Unexpected
by KateMarie999
Summary: Hiccup and Astrid have just gotten married and begun a life together. But things get complicated when, two months after their wedding, Astrid discovers she's pregnant. Are they ready for parenthood? Continuation of the Love on the Battlefield one-shot Handicapped.
1. Chapter One: Stormy Weather

_Here's a bit of history: This chapter was originally a Love on the Battlefield one-shot but the idea became too detailed and interesting to keep it in the confines of that story. So I decided that this had to be its own story. To the Love on the Battlefield fans, there will be more of those one-shots, don't you worry. This is in The Honey and the Hatchet canon as some of you may figure out in a later chapter. But you don't need to read that story to know what's going on in this one.  
_

_~KateMarie999  
_

**Chapter One: Stormy Weather  
**

The subsequent months after Hiccup and Astrid's nuptials had been relatively uninteresting. As far as the village was concerned, nothing had changed. Even before their wedding, it had become a running joke in the village that you weren't a true resident of Berk unless you caught the couple fiercely kissing in a bizarre public location at least once. Gobber held the record at having caught them a total of eight times. It was becoming so frequent that the newlyweds would blush scarlet every time they encountered him.

Life had returned to normal for Hiccup and Astrid as well. They had stayed confined to their new residence, which was just a tad outside the hustle and bustle of the village. They had picked it specifically because they were less likely to be intruded upon and, though neither of them would say it outright, because it had an extra bedroom that would transition perfectly into a nursery. At that time, they were using it for their wedding gifts, which lay forgotten for quite a long time thanks to the distraction of each other.

At long last, the two emerged and got on with their business as though they hadn't been absent at all. Astrid in particular was beginning to grow tired of the older women in the village casting sideways glances at her thankfully flat stomach. She could occasionally hear them whispering about when she would give birth to the next chief. The idea was making her very uncomfortable but the telltale signs of nausea and weight gain had not overcome her so she was reasonably sure it would be a while before children were even a consideration. Of course, both of them _wanted _children but it was far too early now. They had to focus on their new lives together before adding another new life to the mix.

Toothless and Stormfly had been rather annoyed at the antics of their humans. They loved the new house because the master bedroom had plenty of room for them both to comfortably fit with their owners. Most nights, especially after the wedding, Hiccup and Astrid wouldn't allow the dragons access to their room, instead instructing them to sleep in the sizeable pen next to the house. The dragons didn't mind it at first but the unpredictability was beginning to get slightly annoying. Their owners, for some reason, seemed to be especially friendly with them after the nights they didn't allow them into their room, though the dragons suspected there was an unrelated reason for this sudden affection. The way their owners grinned at each other while they fed them made them wonder what on earth they were doing that was so important.

Two days after they had emerged from their house (for longer than half an hour) and reopened the academy, Hiccup and Astrid had decided that it was time to attempt to find out what their friends had remembered in the last month and a half they hadn't been studying.

The day before they emerged, Ruffnut and Snotlout had begun a publicized and very _affectionate_ relationship. Having finally decided that Astrid was off the table the day he had walked in on them kissing at the academy, he decided to pursue Ruffnut, who didn't mind being second choice. In fact, she had displayed a surprising amount of cleverness when it came to allowing him to chase her. Hiccup and Astrid didn't know she was capable of subtlety but she had proven them wrong. Now that the two were together, they weren't paying attention to a word either Hiccup or Astrid said. For completely understandable reasons, Tuffnut was also a bit preoccupied with his sister's new boyfriend. Fully expecting his words to fall on deaf ears, Hiccup plowed through his speech anyway.

"All right, everyone. As you know, there have been a few… distractions…" he looked over at Astrid, who winked at him. "But I wanted to see how much you all remember."

"I remember catching you and Astrid making out in the tool shed two months ago." Tuffnut said, scratching his head.

"Not about that!" Hiccup exclaimed, his cheeks turning slightly pink. That incident had been particularly embarrassing because he was halfway through taking off his shirt when Tuffnut had barged in.

"Oh yeah, and I caught you two behind the Great Hall!" Ruffnut piped up, apparently oblivious to Hiccup's discomfort.

"He meant about dragons!" Astrid shouted, attempting to restore calm.

"Yeah, I think I caught them in that tool shed too, come to think of it." Fishlegs chimed in.

"Yeah and I walked in on them in Gobber's office, that was weird." Snotlout added, laughing at the couple.

"If we could just shift our attention to the _dragons…_" Hiccup continued, his face now reddening even more.

But apparently, Snotlout and Ruffnut had instead decided to shift their attention to each other's lips. Tuffnut looked disgusted and began to make very loud gagging noises. Ruffnut, without even looking up, punched him in the face, sending him flying backward. Hiccup smacked his face with his palm. It was clear he was not going to be able to get any of them to pay attention. Even Fishlegs seemed distracted by the sight of Ruffnut and Snotlout kissing, though no one knew exactly why.

After a few minutes of attempting to restore the peace, Hiccup and Astrid decided that it was a lost cause.

"Fine, just get yourselves killed if we ever get attacked." Astrid said, not bothering to raise her voice over Tuffnut's loud complaints over his sister's public displays of affection.

The newlyweds walked away with their dragons. Hiccup slid his hand into Astrid's, glancing over at her and grinning. The wind was blowing in her face, pushing her bangs out from in front of her eyes and making them seem to light up, like two small pieces of the clear sky. He felt his heart skip a beat at the radiance of his wife and allowed himself to bask in her beauty, wondering how he had gotten so lucky as to win her heart.

At long last, they found themselves at the edge of a cliff. They stood there, silently holding hands and staring into the horizon. Had they turned around and looked up at the sky, they would have noticed the looming dark clouds approaching rapidly but they were too caught up in how much they loved each other to notice something that mundane.

"Let's go for a ride." Hiccup said at last, squeezing Astrid's hand before letting go.

"I'll race you!" Astrid said with a mischievous grin.

Hiccup laughed. "Oh you're on!"

They quickly mounted their dragons and hurtled toward the sky. Hiccup was winning by the tiniest of margins but Astrid was catching up to him little by little. In their years as dragon trainers, they had started to match each other in skill. He still had a way with his dragon that no one else could aspire to replicate but she was beginning to figure out what exactly it was and, much to his irritation, she was starting to give him a run for his money.

Laughing with glee, the couple flew at a breakneck speed farther and farther away from Berk until it had become a speck in the distance. Their dragons began to grow tired and at long last, Hiccup finally conceded that it had been a tie.

"Yes!" Astrid shouted, pumping her fist in the air. "It took long enough but I knew this would happen!"

"Or maybe I just let you think it did." Hiccup said, the corners of his mouth tugging upward slightly.

Astrid suddenly looked crestfallen. "You _didn't_…"

He finally laughed out loud. "You're right, I didn't. But you should have seen your face!"

Astrid immediately flew Stormfly close enough to punch him in the shoulder. This only made him laugh harder. He had come to view the ever present bruise on his arm as a badge of honor. Quick as a flash, he grabbed the front of her shirt and brought her in for a very passionate kiss. When they broke apart, Astrid narrowed her eyes.

"You've certainly changed a lot." she said, smiling seductively.

"I know." He replied, returning her seductive smile. "You like it."

"Was it that obvious?" she asked him, biting her lip.

He leaned in for a very gentle kiss. She felt as though her insides were on fire. Kissing on the backs of their dragons was, admittedly, a little bit difficult but definitely worth it. She had to stop herself from wondering what else they could do from atop a dragon…

She slipped her arms underneath Hiccup's shirt, feeling the smooth skin of his stomach. For a moment, she was tempted to tickle him but she thought that if he fell off his dragon, the moment would be ruined so she restrained herself. She dearly wanted to rip his shirt right off but it was a bit too cold for that so high in the sky.

Just as the two of them were getting caught up in their affection, they suddenly noticed the sky darkening considerably. Without any warning, rain began to pour down on top of them, soaking them completely.

"That doesn't sound good. We need to get back to Berk." Hiccup said, letting go of his wife and immediately directing his dragon forward through the sudden raging storm.

Their ears rang with the claps of thunder. Twice, Hiccup and Toothless were nearly struck.

Then it happened.

Hiccup heard a scream from a point far behind him. He turned around just in time to see a bolt of lightening come so close to Astrid and Stormfly, they had to roll over in midair to avoid it. His heart seemed to freeze when he saw his wife, his _beautiful_ wife, thrown off her dragon and begin to plummet toward the ground.

For a moment, he couldn't react. And then he couldn't stop himself. He shot forward, flying faster than he would normally have flown in such inclement weather but he couldn't find her falling form. The rain was too thick. A moment later, he knew it was too late. He would never catch her in time.

TO BE CONTINUED…


	2. Chapter Two: Burnt Fish

_I got called evil for expressing my love for cliff-hangers on facebook. Can I help it if I enjoy being annoying like that? I'm the oldest child, I don't get many chances to annoy people! It's hard to compete with a sister who wrote what many on this site have called the best Hiccstrid fan fiction ever but I do my best to keep you interested!_

_And come on, guys! Did you really think I'd kill off Astrid? What kind of twisted writer would do something so cruel?_

_Anyway, here's chapter 2!  
_

_~KateMarie999_

**Chapter Two: Burnt Fish  
**

"ASTRID!"

Hiccup knew his cries were impossible to hear over the roar of the wind and the sheets of rain pouring on his head but he couldn't stop himself. If something horrible happened to his wife, he would be inconsolable. Stormfly swooped around him, looking to him for direction but he had no idea where to fly. He knew she must have hit something by now. All he could do was hope that she wasn't dead.

He flew low over the turbulent water, his eyes peeled for any sight of his wife. Then he finally saw something. A head bobbed over the raging sea. Profusely thanking the gods, Hiccup dived down and scooped her out of the water.

"Astrid!" he cried once more, brushing her hair out of her face.

He felt her mouth and was horrified to realize that she wasn't breathing. He started to squeeze her stomach, hoping against hope that she was still alive.

"Come on, Astrid!" he whispered into her ear. "Not now! We just started a life together! Astrid, please!"

Her head lolled uselessly to the side. He squeezed her stomach again, vaguely thinking that she might have breathed in some water and that he could somehow squeeze it out of her. And to his amazement, it worked. Moments later, she spat out copious amounts of the sea and began to cough.

"Oh thank Thor!" he said to himself.

She wasn't conscious but at least she was alive. He instructed Toothless to fly as fast as he could to Berk, Stormfly flying slightly behind them. That had been too close! If he had lost her… he didn't want to think about it. He couldn't think about it. She was alive and that was all that mattered.

He managed to get through the storm, which was beginning to clear up, more easily than he thought he would have. He didn't like flying in terrible weather but it was a necessary evil in this case. They landed in front of the healer's house. He picked up his wife and carried her in, not caring that they were both soaking wet and dripping all over the floor.

"Help!" he called, praying that the healer was inside.

She was inside and, the moment she got a look at Astrid, she immediately instructed him to place her on the nearest bed. Astrid stirred slightly but remained unconscious. In the warm lamplight, Hiccup finally got a good look at her.

She was bruised all over. Her right arm was twisted in a very awkward position, obviously broken in multiple places. He guessed that she had landed on it in the water, which was what had ended up saving her life. Her breathing was shallow, probably from the water still in her lungs. But she was _alive_ and that was all that mattered. He took hold of her left hand, which looked uninjured, and squeezed it. He brushed her bangs out of her eyes once more.

"She'll be okay." The healer said after giving her a thorough examination. "But her arm is going to have to be set right now."

"Set?" he asked.

"I'm going to have to set it in the right position so it can heal properly. It's broken in three places so it's going to hurt a lot." she said, looking very apologetic.

He looked at his wife's face again and hoped that she was just unconscious enough not to feel the impending pain. He nodded once and the healer slowly twisted the mangled arm.

The most horrible, anguished, gut-wrenching scream Hiccup had ever heard filled the space, echoing off the walls. Astrid's eyes flew open and she bolted upright, trying to tug her arm out of the healer's hands but finding it impossible to do so. She stared wide-eyed at her arm, which was a sickly purple color.

"Astrid, Astrid, it's okay!" Hiccup put his arms around her, partially to hold her still but mostly to comfort her. "She's setting your arm so it'll heal right."

"Then what the _Hel_ was that?" she gasped, still desperately trying to remove her arm from the healer's hands.

"It's going to hurt." The healer repeated. "But I have to do it or you'll never be able to use your arm again."

Astrid nodded and then squeezed her eyes shut. Never in her entire life had she felt pain like this. It was as though someone was slowly ripping her arm to pieces. She could hear her cries echoing all around her but didn't consciously remember making a sound. Several times, she feared she would pass out but she recovered only to be met with yet another stab of white-hot pain.

Hiccup held her still, shutting his eyes and trying to ignore her cries. But he couldn't block out the sound. Every scream of pain was like a dagger stabbing him in the heart. He thought about what Astrid had told him long ago about how horrible he had sounded when Gobber had to amputate his foot. He wasn't consciously aware he had made any noise but if it sounded anything like that, he felt suddenly guilty for making Astrid go through what he was going through at that moment.

After what felt like hours, the healer was finally finished. She grabbed a heavy bandage and tightly wrapped the arm in it. Astrid was taking deep breaths, forcing herself not to cry. She felt as though she had to be strong for Hiccup, who would be hovering over her like a mother hen regardless, and she knew that if she shed any tears, trying to live with him would be impossible.

At long last, it was over. Hiccup had climbed into the bed next to her and allowed her to lean on his chest. Thanks to the rain, he wasn't warm but it was still comforting to have him nearby.

"I'm sorry." he whispered once the healer had left.

"Why?" she asked, shutting her eyes and hoping to fall asleep before Hiccup got going on one of his tangents.

"Because I couldn't catch you." he replied, squeezing her a little tighter. "I saw you fall. I should have been able to catch you."

"It's not your fault." She said, rolling her eyes. She had been expecting this. "I was the one who fell off my dragon."

"Yes but…"

"Hiccup, if I hear one more word about how you're responsible for what happened, I will go crazy and probably ruin my arm by hitting you over and over." she interrupted.

Her husband was silent for a while as he processed this information. At long last, he decided that he wanted to make sure her arm healed and so he would have to hold his tongue until she got better.

* * *

The next few days were very boring. The healer wouldn't allow Astrid to leave the house until she was certain the arm would heal properly. By the fourth day, Astrid had begun making awkward left-handed drawings mapping out her escape from the house. They were completely illegible but Hiccup thought they were wonderful all the same.

Feeding herself was a different story. Astrid was given hot soup every day for the first few days and she kept spilling it on herself in her attempts to eat it with her other hand. Hiccup offered to feed her but she adamantly refused, preferring to stain her clothes rather than have her husband treat her like an invalid. If she had been doubtful about his abilities as a father one day, she was convinced it had been in vain. He was treating her the way she had always wished her father had treated her when she had gotten sick as a child. It seemed a lot more annoying when Hiccup did it but she couldn't help appreciating it all the same.

Finally, she was released with strict orders to take it easy and try to keep her arm still so she wouldn't injure it further. Her arm throbbed but she had felt worse pain. In fact, the thing that was most uncomfortable was the _itching_. She was reminded of Hiccup's occasional complaints of itching in his absent left foot and how incredibly annoying that could be and wondered if it was anything like this. She also had random bouts of nausea and back pain but she could ignore those as well.

Stormfly greeted Astrid the moment she emerged from the healer's house. The dragon crooned happily at seeing her trainer doing much better. Astrid reached out an arm and stroked her gently.

"Don't even think about it." said Hiccup from directly behind her. "No flying until your arm is better!"

Astrid whipped her head back to face him. "Oh really?" she asked dangerously.

Hiccup crossed his arms in a vain attempt to look intimidating. "Yes really. Flying is what almost killed you; you need to give yourself time to recover."

Both Astrid and the Nadder were giving him mutinous glares. He narrowed his eyes and was fully aware of how ridiculous he looked; he never could perfect his own version of Astrid's glare, which could immobilize him completely. He would have to figure it out before becoming a father or his children would walk all over him.

"Yes well you were flying when you lost your foot and, in case you haven't noticed, I still have my arm so I think I'll be okay." Astrid rolled her eyes as she mounted her dragon.

"No!" Hiccup cried. "Astrid, stop!"

"Hiccup, when have I ever listened to you?" Astrid asked, giving him a very mischievous grin.

"Only when you feel like it…" he admitted.

"Exactly, so if you want to stop me, you'll have to catch me." The dragon immediately shot into the air.

Hiccup turned around and was pleased to see his dragon ambling forward, obviously having missed the argument.

"Come on, bud!" Hiccup exclaimed, mounting his dragon and immediately taking off.

Yet again, they had completely forgotten to check the sky. Fortunately for them, it was clear so there would be no second incident. This was something Hiccup would realize hours later before smacking himself in the face and marveling at how badly he was doing his job as a husband.

Astrid and Stormfly had gotten a large head start so Hiccup and Toothless had to fly even faster to catch up. He doubted that Astrid would be flying her dragon at the breakneck speed she had flown the previous week but he didn't want to take any chances. At last, he caught up to them.

"Astrid, I meant what I said!" he called.

"Oh I know!" Astrid laughed. "I just didn't listen!"

"Why does no one ever listen to me?" Hiccup muttered furiously. "You need to come down! You just got hurt! Can you even move your fingers?"

Astrid grinned and lifted her left hand, wiggling her fingers in plain sight of her husband.

"I didn't mean _those_ fingers!" he rolled his eyes.

"You didn't specify!" she sighed. "No, Hiccup, I can't move my other fingers yet but it doesn't matter. They're bandaged and everything will be fine."

"Yes, because you never put yourself in _any_ danger." Hiccup said sarcastically.

"Of course not. Thank you for figuring that out." Astrid winked at him.

He knew it was impossible to convince her to come down. There was nothing he could do except glare at her for a few seconds (which merely made her laugh) and fly away. Oh well, he thought, he hadn't flown in a while anyway, he might as well enjoy it.

But the nagging feeling that Astrid would end up injuring herself again completely ruined the moment.

* * *

He had been waiting in their new house for over an hour, pacing back and forth and muttering to himself, when Astrid finally arrived at home.

"Where were you?" he exclaimed the moment she walked in through the door. "I was all about to fly around Berk looking for you!"

"Relax, Hiccup." Astrid said, taking a deep breath. "I was just enjoying my freedom."

"You're not usually out this late." Hiccup crossed his arms again. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Oh stop being so… so…" Astrid waved her left hand up and down.

"You just gestured to all of me!" he retorted.

"Yeah! That!" she shouted. "Stop it!"

"Stop being… what are you… I'm so confused right now!" he put his face in his hands.

Astrid decided to take her husband's irritation as a signal that it was time to make herself dinner. She reached into a cupboard and got out a pan.

"What do you think you're doing?" Hiccup asked, giving her a very penetrating stare.

"Making myself dinner. I'm hungry." Astrid replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Let me get that for you."

"No!"

"The healer said you should take it easy!"

"Get your hands off me!"

"Just give me the pan!"

A few minutes later, Astrid glared at Hiccup as he placed two fish on the pan. He had won that struggle only because she didn't have her right arm. If she'd had full use of both arms, she'd have been able to pin him down and roast the fish while keeping him immobilized. But _no_, she just had to land on her stronger arm.

In a few moments, the dragons looked on in horror as the fish blackened in the pan. A horrible smell filled the house.

"For the love of Thor, Hiccup, you can defeat a Red Death with one plasma blast and run a dragon training academy almost singlehandedly but you can't figure out how long a fish has to cook in the fire before it burns?" Astrid blurted out in irritation.

"I… I'm sorry." said Hiccup, looking sheepish.

In any ordinary circumstance she probably would have forgiven him on the basis of the pathetic look he was giving her but his annoying behavior earlier that day was still eating at her.

"Sometimes I can't stand it!" she shouted, turning red in the face. "I can't handle your ineptitude!"

"Ineptitude… Astrid, all I did was burn a fish…"

Astrid stomped out of the house, thinking vaguely that she would see if Fishlegs had anything to sooth her growling stomach.

* * *

Astrid didn't return that night. Hiccup wondered where on earth she would have slept but he didn't want to think about it.

"Great, Hiccup." He said to himself as he got out of bed the next morning. "You've been married for less than two months are your wife already hates you. That's got to be some kind of record."

He winced as he placed his foot on the cold floor. Toothless made his familiar gurgling noise and Hiccup knew that if he didn't feed his dragon soon, his wife would not be the only one who was angry at him.

"All right, bud. I've got some fish downstairs." he said as he attached his prosthetic foot.

He slowly walked down the stairs, still yawning and stretching. He wasn't usually so lethargic in the morning but his arguments with his wife had worn him out. As he reached the barrel of fish, Astrid burst into the house. Her face was pale and her eyes wide and Hiccup immediately knew something was wrong.

"Hey." he said in an attempt to stay friendly. "You… you okay?"

"Me? Yes! Why wouldn't I be?" Astrid snapped.

Hiccup tossed a fish to Toothless, who gulped it down immediately and continued gurgling at him.

"Because I'm your husband and I can tell something's wrong." Hiccup replied, tossing another fish into Toothless' mouth.

"Hiccup, please. I… what happened yesterday, I'm sorry but I don't want to talk about this." Astrid awkwardly took off her shoulder armor with her left hand.

"Where were you?" Hiccup asked, softening his gaze.

"I went over to see Ruffnut. And she… I can't talk about this right now." Astrid took a few steps over to the stairs.

"Astrid, please. You can tell me anything. I'm sorry that I was being… me yesterday. I'll stop, I get that I was being overbearing. I was thinking about it last night and…"

"It's not that, Hiccup! I… please don't… I can't have this conversation right now. I have a lot to think about!" Astrid climbed the first step.

"What's wrong? Did I do something? Did Ruffnut do something?"

"Hiccup, please…"

"Just tell me what's going on!"

"Fine!" Astrid whipped her head around to face him, crossing her arms and glaring at him. "Fine, if you have to know right this second!"

"Well I don't… what are you…"

"Hiccup… I… I'm pregnant!" Astrid exclaimed.

And with that, she stomped up the stairs to their room, leaving Hiccup to stand there in stunned silence.


	3. Chapter Three: A Surprising Discovery

_Just a warning: Astrid's pregnancy symptoms did require me to mention some aspects of being female that might be awkward for my male readers. I tried very hard to be discreet so I don't think it'll be an issue. Just throwing that out there._

_~KateMarie999_

**Chapter Three: A Surprising Discovery  
**

Astrid stomped out of the house, leaving the smell of burnt fish and her husband behind. She wasn't sure why she had been so angry with him. She wasn't usually so volatile. What had changed? In a moment, she decided that she needed the company of other women. The only other woman she could think of that wasn't her mother (her mother would just glare at her and tell her she was being immature) was Ruffnut. Not comforted by this thought, she changed direction and headed over to Ruffnut and Tuffnut's house.

She took a moment to thank the gods that Tuffnut had decided to take Barf and Belch to get their teeth cleaned by Gobber. He tended to interrupt every discussion Ruffnut and Astrid tried to have with completely random outbursts. Snotlout was also nowhere to be seen, which was definitely a good thing.

"Why are you here?" was Ruffnut's greeting when Astrid knocked on the door.

"I'm mad at Hiccup." Astrid admitted.

"Oh. Okay." Ruffnut said, opening the door to let Astrid in.

As usual, Ruffnut didn't press for details. Astrid liked this about her sole female friend. She wasn't one to confess her feelings and Ruffnut didn't have patience for them anyway. If she wanted to get emotional about something, Astrid knew her husband would be more than happy to let her cry on him for hours. Not that she ever did anything so ridiculous…

"You look sick." said Ruffnut quite suddenly.

"Yeah, I broke my arm." Astrid replied, pointing to her bandaged arm.

"Not that kind of sick. Like, you look like Tuffnut does every time he breathes in Barf's gas." Ruffnut shrugged. "Except you don't fall over. I like it when he falls over."

Not enjoying the mental picture this statement sparked, Astrid rolled her eyes. The idea of having a deep conversation with Ruffnut was laughable. Times like this made her miss Heather.

"I'm not sick." Astrid said bluntly. "I just fell and hit my arm."

Ruffnut shook her head. "No, it's still different. Like, your face is all white and kind of green sometimes and you're sometimes hunched over like you just got punched in the back. Did Hiccup punch you in the back?"

"No, of course not." Astrid said. "Why would you think that?"

"Sometimes Tuffnut punches me in the back."

Why did this information not surprise her in the slightest? Truth be told, the smell of burnt fish did make her feel sick. But the wave of nausea would subside like all the other ones.

"I'm just really hungry, that's all." Astrid said, scanning the house to see if there was any food out.

"Oh. I have bread." Ruffnut picked up a loaf and offered it to her. "It's actually Tuffnut's but I'll just tell him Barf ate it."

Astrid chuckled and accepted the loaf. She ravenously tore it apart and ate it in a most decidedly unladylike manner. Her mother would have been furious but Ruffnut couldn't care less.

"Wow, you were really hungry." Ruffnut said, raising her eyebrows at Astrid's behavior. "Want more? I think Tuffnut has some fish I can cook over the fire."

At this point, Astrid was so hungry she didn't care that she was stealing from Tuffnut. Knowing the twins, there was probably food all over the place. They tended to eat almost as much as Fishlegs (but unlike Fishlegs, they never put on much weight).

As the fish sizzled over the fire, a pleasant but potent smell filled the house. For some reason, this made Astrid's nausea nearly unbearable. She stood up and pelted out of the house. As soon as she got outside, she vomited in the bush next to the front door.

She walked back into the house, feeling a lot better but rather embarrassed. Ruffnut stared at her for a few seconds, obviously deep in thought.

"Are you pregnant?" she asked at last, raising an eyebrow.

Astrid laughed out loud. "No way! That's impossible!"

"Oh. So you got that annoying thing every month?"

Astrid did _not _want to discuss that with anyone, least of all Ruffnut. But the question made her think back. Had she gotten it? She tried to remember the last time… it had been… oh _Thor_, it had been the week before she had gotten married. In her excitement, she hadn't realized it wasn't happening anymore. Her eyes widened.

"Oh gods… oh gods…" Astrid sat down, suddenly dizzy.

Her mother had told her about the back pain, the nausea, the mood swings, the dizzy spells… this couldn't be happening. Not now. Oh _gods_, not now. Ruffnut thrust a plate with a perfectly cooked fish in front of her. Had she not realized this horrifying bit of information, she would have marveled at the fact that Ruffnut had managed to actually cook something without burning it.

"Woah. You're pregnant! That was fast!" Ruffnut shouted.

"Keep your voice down! I don't want everyone finding out!" Astrid whispered hurriedly. "And yes, I think so. Oh gods, I'm not ready for this."

"But you're gonna tell Hiccup, right?" Ruffnut asked, cocking her head like a confused dragon.

"Yeah… yeah probably. Eventually." Astrid put her head in her hands.

Ruffnut's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, Hiccup's the dad, right?"

Astrid kicked her in the shin as hard as she could. Ruffnut didn't react. Years of abuse from Tuffnut had given her very thick skin.

"Of course Hiccup's the dad! Who else would it be? No! Don't answer that!" Astrid said from between her fingers.

At that completely inopportune moment, Tuffnut walked into the house, banging the door behind him. He was carrying a single, bloody tooth.

"Look! Gobber took this out of Belch's mouth!" he said excitedly, brandishing it in front of Ruffnut's face. "Why's she here?" he asked, gesturing to Astrid.

"She's mad at Hiccup for getting her pregnant." said Ruffnut unabashedly.

"But you can't be pregnant. You're not fat!" Tuffnut said rather loudly.

Both Ruffnut and Astrid kicked him in the knees so hard, he fell over. Ruffnut burst out laughing.

"Keep your voice down! I'm not ready to tell anyone else!" Astrid shouted.

"Fine, whatever. So is Hiccup mad at you too?" Tuffnut asked, sitting down next to his sister.

Astrid didn't enjoy being put on display. The twins were staring at her as if expecting her to give birth any second.

"He doesn't know." Astrid admitted. "I only just figured it out. Hey… can I sleep here tonight? I don't think I want to go home right now."

"Okay. You can have Tuffnut's bed!" Ruffnut exclaimed happily.

"Where am I gonna sleep?" Tuffnut whined.

"You can sleep in the pen with Barf and Belch." Ruffnut said automatically.

"Hmm… okay." Tuffnut said and without another word, he got up and walked outside.

* * *

Astrid walked into her house early the next morning. She was hoping Hiccup would not be awake yet so she could have time to think about how she would tell him… or if she would tell him right that second. She could still smell the burnt fish from the night before and it made her stomach lurch uncomfortably. She hoped she wouldn't be sick on the floor.

Hiccup was standing by the barrel of fish when he noticed her.

"Hey." he said, smiling grimly. "You… you okay?"

She was a lot of things but okay wasn't one of them.

"Me? Yes! Why wouldn't I be?" she said without thinking.

She watched Hiccup toss a fish into Toothless' mouth without even looking at him.

"Because I'm your husband and I can tell something's wrong." he said, giving her a very concerned look.

"Hiccup, please. I… what happened yesterday, I'm sorry but I don't want to talk about this." Astrid took off her shoulder armor.. She didn't even want to _think_ about it, much less talk about it.

"Where were you?" Hiccup gave her what she thought was his attempt at a gentle look. Since he was obviously anxious about her, it came off as very fake.

"I went over to see Ruffnut. And she… I can't talk about this right now." Astrid repeated, hoping that he would leave her alone if she walked toward the stairs.

Hiccup slowly followed her. "Astrid, please. You can tell me anything. I'm sorry that I was being… me yesterday. I'll stop, I get that I was being overbearing. I was thinking about it last night and…"

She was begging the gods to make him shut up. How had he misunderstood when she had told him _twice_ that she didn't want to talk about it?

"It's not that, Hiccup! I… please don't… I can't have this conversation right now. I have a lot to think about!" Astrid put her foot on the first step. Please let him leave her alone…

"What's wrong? Did I do something? Did Ruffnut do something?"

Of course he would automatically assume he was to blame. He was already sore over being unable to catch her when she fell off Stormfly. He was obviously still getting over it. She felt helpless, unable to get him to stop nagging her. All she wanted was to be alone…

"Hiccup, please…"

Hiccup took another step toward her. "Just tell me what's going on!"

Something suddenly snapped inside of her. She whirled her head around and glared at her husband. He was going to regret saying that.

"Fine!" Astrid snapped. "Fine, if you have to know right this second!"

Hiccup faltered slightly, shrinking away from her glare. ""Well I don't… what are you…"

"Hiccup… I…" Astrid paused. She didn't have to tell him now. For a moment, she couldn't form the words. His eyes shone with compassion and concern… she had to say it. He deserved to know. "I'm pregnant!"

She couldn't take it anymore. She turned her head away from him and pounded up the stairs. As soon as she got into their room, she flung herself on her bed, praying that he wouldn't follow her. After a few minutes, she decided that he probably wasn't going to barge in and expect her to talk about it so she curled up and fell asleep.

* * *

Hiccup stood stock still, his mouth agape and his hand frozen on the banister. He felt as though his world was spinning and that if he moved, he would fall upwards and disappear into the sky.

A few minutes later, he felt a gentle nudging on his back. Toothless crooned, his eyes wide with concern. Slowly, Hiccup moved his hand over and stroked the dragon's nose.

"I'm a dad." he said at last. The moment the words tumbled out of his mouth, his insides seemed to freeze completely.

He sat down on the lowest step, feeling very dizzy all of a sudden. Toothless plopped himself down next to his trainer. The human absentmindedly stroked the dragon's neck and back while using his other hand to hold up his head.

"This is going to be a very frightening next few months." said Hiccup, taking a deep breath. "If Astrid and I fight over something as dumb as burning fish, how are we going to raise a child?"

Toothless looked at him as though he desperately wanted to assure his human that everything would be okay. He whined quietly.

"I need to talk to someone. I mean… I can talk to you but… I'm sorry, bud. I need some advice and I doubt you know anything about fatherhood." The dragon whined again. "Hey, you can still come with me. Let's go."

Hiccup immediately stood up and walked out of his house. The sunny day outside swam in front of his eyes and it was nothing short of a miracle that he managed to get to his father's house without tripping over something or getting lost along the way.

Stoick was feeling Thornado when he saw his son slowly sauntering over to him, almost as if he was getting over a blast from a Flightmare. His body was rigid, his eyes glazed over.

"Hiccup?" Stoick said, taking a few steps toward his son. "What's going on?"

Hiccup seemed to snap out of his reverie rather abruptly. He stared at his father as though he had only just noticed he was there. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. After a few seconds, he shut it with an audible snap.

Stoick knew something was very wrong because his son's silence was often a bigger indicator than his chattiness. Hiccup had a tendency to blurt out everything on his mind as quickly as possible. It was yet another way he differed from his father.

"All right, son, sit down." Stoick grabbed the young man by his shoulders and directed him to a chair resting against the side of the house.

Half tempted to splash water on his son's face, Stoick exchanged a glace with Toothless, who cooed at him.

"Problems with Astrid?" Stoick asked. Discussing feelings wasn't something he excelled at but Hiccup had clearly come to him for a reason.

"You could say that." Hiccup said at last, not making eye contact. "If you want to get technical, I had a lot to do with it myself."

Stoick sighed. "Listen, son, what happened on the dragons, that wasn't your fault. You've got to stop beating yourself up about it. These things happen and…"

"Astrid's pregnant!" Hiccup blurted out.

Whatever Stoick had been expecting, it certainly wasn't _that_. For a moment, father and son stared at each other in silence, neither able to figure out what to say and both feeling rather awkward.

"Oh…" Stoick said. "That was fast."

"Yeah."

"So what are you going to do about it?"

Hiccup stared at his knees. "I don't know. I mean… I did it…"

"You _both_ did it." Stoick interrupted. "Don't try to pin this on yourself."

"Right, I know. But we should have been more careful." Hiccup put his head in his hands.

"Well you weren't and it happened." Stoick said sternly. "And now you've got to face the consequences. You can't be selfish anymore. You and Astrid are going to have to stick together and work out all your differences for that baby."

"I know, dad." Hiccup said from between his fingers. "But I'm not ready for this. We're not ready for this." His head shot up. "Yesterday, we got into an argument over fish. _Fish_, dad! It was stupid!"

Stoick laughed uproariously. Hiccup stared at him, slowly raising an eyebrow. As soon as Stoick calmed down, he began to speak.

"The day we found out you were on the way, your mother and I got into an argument over a tile in the roof." Hiccup continued to stare blankly at the man, still confused as ever. Stoick continued. "She claimed that it was loose and it was making the house cold. I told her she was being completely unreasonable. She started crying, we kept shouting… after it was over, I was convinced that we would never be able to raise you properly."

Hiccup's mouth dropped open in surprise. He had no memories of his mother ever shouting at his father. In fact, up until she died, they had been quite calm and nurturing. Even after she died, Stoick tried his best to be patient with his son but Hiccup had, admittedly, not been an easy child to raise.

"I know it seems like a lot now. And it is. Having a kid is the most difficult thing you will ever do." Stoick smiled. "But it's also the most rewarding."

* * *

Astrid woke up several hours later. It took her a few minutes to figure out why she was so nervous. Earlier that day, she didn't even want to look at her husband. Now she desperately wanted him there.

Almost as if on cue, Hiccup walked into their room with a plate full of cooked fish. All of them looked delicious.

"You did it." Astrid said, smiling and immediately cutting one up the moment the plate was set in front of her.

"Yeah well… those are the ones that turned out okay. Don't ask me how many tries it took me to figure it out."

Astrid chuckled. "I'm sorry for snapping at you."

"It's okay, you don't have to apologize…"

"Hey." Astrid suddenly grabbed the front of Hiccup's shirt and brought his face inches away from her own. "Do not make excuses for me just because of the baby."

"Oh… okay." Hiccup said, startled. "Well yeah, you shouldn't have snapped at me."

"Much better." Astrid released him.

They were silent for a while. Hiccup watched as Astrid began to feed herself pieces of the fish. She was getting much better at doing things left handed.

"How's your arm?" Hiccup asked, feeling very awkward all of a sudden.

"It still itches. But it doesn't hurt so much anymore." Astrid admitted through a mouthful of fish. "Hiccup, I'm sorry I blurted it out like that and then ran off. I shouldn't have done that."

"I made you do it."

"Don't blame yourself for… actually yeah you did." she smiled. "Okay so that was partially your fault too."

"Nice to know you're willing to let me take the blame when I really deserve it." he said, smiling back.

"You know I will." Astrid took his hand. "And this won't be the last time either. We've got a life full of stupid mistakes to make."

"Yeah." said Hiccup, staring at their clasped hands. "But this baby isn't one of them."

"No." she admitted. "I agree but… how are we going to do this?"

"Well first of all, we're going to get everything all ready." Hiccup squeezed her hand. "We'll move our wedding gifts out of the extra room and get it ready and then we'll sit back and wait for the baby to get here. And until then, I'll do everything for you…"

"Oh gods, Hiccup, you better not…"

"I'm kidding." Hiccup winked at her.

She let go of his hand to punch him on the shoulder. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Hiccup felt slightly overwhelmed at how much he loved his wife. She had just woken up, was pale in the face, and had bags under her eyes but she was _so_ beautiful. Her bright blue eyes were still clouded with uncertainty but he knew that it was his job to make her feel loved, to make her feel confident that everything was going to be okay. He felt honored to have been given that task. He lay down on the bed next to her.

Astrid snuggled into her husband the moment he was next to her. She could hear his heartbeat through his shirt; it was such a soothing sound and it seemed to clear her mind of all the clutter that had been there moments before. She felt him put his arm around her and squeeze her shoulder. Slowly, she placed the plate of food on the floor so that she could turn to face him. He smiled warmly at her, melting her heart completely. Even her broken arm stopped hurting for those few seconds. She brushed her lips against his. His smile widened and he gently kissed her on the cheek.

"You know… I've been thinking about it." He whispered to her, his breath tickling her cheek.

"Hm?" she asked, not sure she could form any words.

"I'm going to be happy either way." He kissed her on the cheek again. "But I kind of hope it's a girl."

Completely against her will, several tears forced their way out of her eyes. She hastily tried to brush them away but she couldn't stop Hiccup from seeing them. She knew exactly why he had said that and it was too much. Her emotions had been close to the surface ever since finding out she was pregnant but somehow, she didn't care as much as she would have long ago. Gone were the days when she had put up her defenses against emotional releases around her husband. The rest of the village might have thought of her as a fierce Viking but she knew Hiccup saw someone different. And even in her moments of weakness, he still saw her strength. Perhaps that was why she loved him so much.


	4. Chapter Four: Deception

_Hello everyone,_

_Welcome, people who are following this because they saw my __Love on the Battlefield__ one-shots! And welcome to all the newcomers! I'm so happy you're here! Please enjoy yours stay. All the ladies are invited to Astrid's baby shower; spread the word! I am so overwhelmed with how many people like this already! 20 favorites in 2 days, that's a record for me! Thank you SO MUCH!_

_The rest of my author's note will be at the end because you kind of have to read this first…_

_~KateMarie999_

* * *

**Chapter Four: Deception**

Hiccup woke up the next morning with a face full of Astrid's long, golden hair. He slowly brushed it out of his eyes and snuggled closer to his wife. He heard her slow, rhythmic breathing and felt himself fall in love with her all over again.

It took him a few minutes to figure out why he was so terrified and excited at the same time. And then he remembered. _We're having a baby. _He thought. _The most precious gift that the natural world can bestow upon us has been handed to us. A brand new human being. A life. A person, a wonderful new person is going to come into our lives and bring love and joy and magic and wonder… and why can't I ever be this eloquent when I talk to anyone?_

"Hiccup?" Astrid whispered, stirring slightly. "Let go of me."

"Why?"

"Just let go."

Hiccup let go of her body and his wife immediately jumped up, ran over to the window, and retched.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting up slightly.

"Hold my hair." She said, gripping the edge of the window with her one good hand.

He stood up and made his way to her. She retched again. He grabbed hold of her hair just as she finally expelled the contents of her stomach onto the grass below. She turned to face him, wiping her mouth with her hand.

"I'm sorry." she said, looking slightly embarrassed. "Not a very nice thing to wake up to, was it?"

"I've had worse." Hiccup gave her a lopsided smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, actually." Astrid replied. "Though I really want a drink of water."

"Say no more." he said, immediately grabbing the first skin of water he could find.

She drank it as though she hadn't had a drop to drink in days. His brows furrowed in concern.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked once she finally finished it.

She wiped her mouth again. "Yes, I'm sure."

"Okay… do you want something to eat?"

She shook her head. "No thanks. Not now. I'm still really tired."

Hiccup paused. His wife was definitely a morning person (while he was most decidedly an evening person) and she was usually wide awake within seconds of getting out of bed. Sensing his concern, Astrid waved her hand, as though trying to physically push aside his doubts.

"I'm fine, Hiccup. I'm just tired. And I don't feel too sick anymore." She assured him.

"Either way, we should go see a healer and…"

"No!" Astrid exclaimed, making her husband jump.

"Why not?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I don't want anyone to know just yet." she replied. "I don't want anyone to make a fuss. You're going to be annoying enough."

Clearly whatever it was that made women so unpredictable during pregnancy was the reason for that admission, Hiccup reasoned.

"Well my dad already knows. And so do the twins." he reminded her. "And how long do you expect us to keep it a secret when it's going to get more obvious when…"

"Are you making a crack about my weight?" Astrid snapped suddenly.

Hiccup took a few steps back and tripped over their bed, landing on it with a thud. Astrid laughed maniacally.

"Oh this is going to be fun." she said once her laughter had subsided.

"Really? You're going to torment me?" he frowned.

Astrid nodded, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "Consider it my revenge."

"Revenge? You had a lot to do with this too!" Hiccup protested. "I just helped…"

"Yes you did but I'm the one who has to do all the work. And besides, it's fun!" she reached out a hand to help him up.

He stood up, grumbling the entire time. She chucked; this was going to be an exciting few months.

"You know, I do feel a bit better now." She said, walking toward the door to their bedroom. "I think I'm going to take my morning flight on Stormfly."

"No!" Hiccup shouted, rushing forward and blocking her from opening the door.

Astrid crossed her arms. "Hiccup, if you do not get out of my way, I will punch you in the face!"

Hiccup shook his head, a panicked expression on his face. "Astrid, be reasonable…"

"I _am_ being reasonable; you're the one who is being ridiculous!" she retorted.

"_I'm _ridiculous?"

Astrid took some deep breaths. "Okay… you let me fly with a broken arm…"

"You ran away from me and didn't listen to my warnings…"

"…and nothing happened so why is this any different?"

The couple stared at each other for a few seconds. Hiccup was at a loss for words. He thought his wife would be a lot more careful than this.

"Because it's not just you." he said in a low voice. "You have to think about the baby too."

"So I have to give up flying now?" Astrid hissed back. "I don't think so!"

"Astrid, what if you fall off again? We could have lost the baby the first time!"

"But we didn't!"

"I don't want to take that chance." Hiccup sighed. "If you go flying and a storm sneaks up on you and what happened last time happens again and I'm not there to save you, I'm going to lose everything. _We'll_ lose everything."

"So come with me." Astrid said, brightening up considerably.

"What?"

"We'll compromise. No flying unless we do it together. And that goes for you too. Our kid needs a father." she explained.

Hiccup considered this for a second. If it meant making his wife happy, he was willing to compromise. Plus he was frightened of her temper now that her emotions were about to become so unpredictable.

"All right. But Toothless and I always go flying at dusk. And you'll have to come along for that if I'm really going to give up flying without you." Hiccup agreed.

"And Stormfly and I always go flying at dawn. So you'll have to come along for that flight too." Astrid reminded him.

They were silent. Hiccup finally walked away from the door. He walked over and took Astrid's hand.

"You know, I think I'm going to like flying with you, Astrid Haddock." Hiccup winked at her.

"I'm just looking forward to getting rid of you." Astrid said and, without waiting for her husband to respond, opened the door and yanked him out of it.

They nearly tumbled over each other down the stairs and when they finally got to the pen with the dragons, both beasts eyed them with confusion.

"Come on, Stormfly." Astrid said, mounting her dragon. "We've got a guest this morning. And every morning for a few months. Sorry, girl."

The dragon gave Hiccup a disgruntled look before taking off. He placed his arms around his wife and leaned into her shoulder. Her hair smelled wonderful and the air in his face was very refreshing. Perhaps there was something to be said for riding at dawn instead of dusk. He was witnessing the birth of a new day. This thought made his heart leap for joy. He didn't think he was ready to be a father yet but he loved his baby more than he ever thought he could love anyone. Not more than Astrid, of course, but the fact that it was _their _baby made him love her even more.

Astrid felt his hand move down to gently stroke her stomach. She smiled.

"Getting to know him?" she asked, turning her head and kissing his cheek.

"Oh yes. I can't wait to meet her." Hiccup held his wife closer. "I love you. Both of you."

* * *

Hiding Astrid's pregnancy proved to be very difficult that evening. Hiccup and Astrid had hardly sat down in the Great Hall when Gobber came bounding over, a tankard attached to his left arm.

"Ahh, just the happy couple I was hoping to see!" he exclaimed excitedly, waving the tankard around.

"Why's that?" asked Hiccup, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"I finally managed to make that wine from those berries you found on the other end of the island. My first two tries were horrible but this one is delicious. Come on then, drink up!" Gobber slammed a tankard in front of them filled to the brim with a purple substance.

"Oh… Gobber… wow, that looks… wow… but I don't think now is the right time to…"

"Nonsense, Hiccup! You and Astrid found those berries so it's only fitting that you be the first ones to try it. We've been waiting all evening." Gobber said, putting a tankard in front of Astrid as well.

Hiccup and Astrid exchanged a split second glance. There was no way they were going to get out of this unless they worked together. Hiccup took a big swig of the wine. To his immense surprise, it was rather tasty. At least he wasn't going to have to choke it down. Astrid pretended to take a dainty sip while Hiccup verbally praised the recipe, recommending that everyone try it now. When the rest of the Hooligans were distracted, she poured the wine into Hiccup's nearly empty tankard.

"That was close." Hiccup whispered to her.

"I know. Sorry about that." Astrid whispered back.

"Don't be sorry. It's my job to take care of you." he kissed her on the cheek.

At that moment, Gobber came bounding over to the couple. "Woah, Astrid, you certainly drank that down in a hurry! I'll get you some more!"

Gobber picked up Astrid's empty tankard before she could protest. She shared a wide eyed look with her husband. It wasn't over yet. As soon as Gobber put the full tankard in front of her, she pretended to take another sip. Hiccup gulped down the rest of the wine to make room for hers as well. The room was starting to go in and out of focus and his head was beginning to ache ever so slightly. Then, as soon as they were sure everyone was distracted once more, they switched tankards.

Gobber did not excel at reading facial expressions so he took Astrid's smile at her husband and Hiccup's look of immense discomfort as a signal that they needed more wine. When it was all over, Hiccup had drunk six full tankards of the stuff. The entire room spun in front of his eyes. He didn't think he could stand up. He wasn't even sure he could sit up. Was he sitting up? Perhaps the dull pain in the back of his head had something to do with the fact that the room lurched and now everyone was staring down at him.

"What in Odin's name is going on here?" came a distant voice.

A familiar face swam in front of his eyes. Hiccup squinted but he still couldn't figure out who had shouted. The yellow blur began to move and he heard a voice come out of it.

"Stoick!" it said. "Well you know, Gobber all wanted us to try this new wine and Hiccup here had a lot to drink what with… things…"

"Yes, Astrid sure finished hers in a hurry!" another blur said excitedly.

The familiar blur nodded its head. "Oh… oh! Yes well it's about time we got him home. Come on, Hiccup."

Hiccup felt hands underneath his shoulders and found himself standing upright. The entire room spun in front of his eyes. His foot and the odd silver contraption where his other foot should have been shook and he fell backwards onto a vast figure. Someone's hair tickled the back of his neck.

"Ismmmoving!" he slurred. "Make isssstop…"

"Let's just get you home, son."

Hiccup suddenly recognized the voice. "Dad!" he shouted very loudly. "You… you… hi, dad!"

"Hello, son. Come on, people are staring." Stoick pushed him out of the Great Hall and into the darkness outside.

Hiccup tripped all over his feet but still his father led him onwards. Suddenly, he remembered something vitally important.

"Dad! Dad! You hafta know… I'm gonna have a baby!" he said suddenly.

He heard a loud snort from some point behind them but he ignored it and the ensuing shouts of laughter. He was glad to have told his father this important news.

"Yes, son, you are. But right now you need rest." Stoick said, keeping a firm grip on his shoulders.

"Wait!" Hiccup stopped.

He felt very odd. For a few seconds, he simply stood there, rocking back and forth slightly. Suddenly, his entire body heaved and he heard a horrible splattering noise.

"Oh _gross_!" exclaimed Astrid.

Unsure of why Astrid had shouted (or why the front of his clothes were now wet and the inside of his mouth tasted foul), Hiccup continued to walk forward, steadied by Stoick.

That was the last Hiccup remembered until he woke up the next morning. Unfortunately, his wife would spend the next few months trying to forget what happened after that incident.

Hiccup had been silent for the next few minutes, meekly walking in the direction he was steered. As soon as they got to the house, he turned around to face his father. He then began to laugh.

"You look like a yak!" he choked between fits of giggles.

Stoick looked rather taken aback at this sudden observation. Astrid thought she saw the corners of his mouth twitch but he kept a straight face. Her own face was growing hot. She had only been married for two months and her husband was already humiliating her.

"I can stay if you like." Stoick offered as the two of them watched Hiccup stumble up to the front of the house.

"It's okay. I need to learn how to be a mom. I guess this will be good practice." Astrid shook her head. "I'm really sorry…"

Stoick put up a hand. "Don't be sorry. What Hiccup did for you was very noble. Stupid, yes, but noble."

Astrid nodded as she watched her husband trip over nothing and fall on his side. Stoick finally stomped away and she distinctly heard loud guffaws in the distance.

"Okay, Hiccup, come on in. We're going to get you all cleaned up." Astrid said, helping him up and leading him in through the door.

"Astrid! You're gonna have a baby!" Hiccup exclaimed as if he had just figured this out himself.

"Yes, Hiccup, I am." Astrid assured him, finally getting him into a back room where there was a giant tub.

She took the buckets of water they saved for bath time out of the cupboard and splashed them into the tub. She would have gotten Toothless or Stormfly to heat up the water but she thought it was probably best if it was cold this time. She then walked over to her husband, who was swaying back and forth. She took off his vomit soaked shirt in one swift movement, thankful for all the practice she had been getting in using her left hand.

"Ooh… Astrid! I didn't know you wanted to do _that_! Here? In the room with the tub?" Hiccup gave her his best attempt at a seductive grin.

Astrid grimaced. "Oh Hiccup, there is no way I would ever even consider doing that with you tonight." She said as she slid off his pants and pushed him into the tub.

"AHH! COLD!" Hiccup bellowed.

But try as he might, he couldn't manage to get himself out of the tub. Smiling in satisfaction, Astrid began to bathe him with her one good arm. She was vaguely reminded of the day she had walked in on him bathing when they had been teenagers and was highly amused to wonder what _that_ Hiccup would have thought of this moment if he had known it was going to happen.

When the bathing was finished, Astrid wrapped Hiccup in a cloth and led him upstairs. He tripped twice and very nearly knocked her down but she remained patient with him. Once she had gotten him into bed, she took a deep breath. Being a mother was going to be _very _difficult.

* * *

_All right, did you like that? Great! I have to say, writing drunk!Hiccup was one of the most amusing things I've ever done! This chapter was actually quite difficult to write but I think I did okay. Please leave a review! Trust me, if you knew how unbelievably happy reviews make me, you'd understand why I say that! I read them all and I grin like crazy when I see them. _


	5. Chapter Five: The Announcement

_Wow, everyone! Thanks for your support! I'm so glad you all like this as much as you do! Updates will be slightly less regular since Pooka has started yelling at me about updating too fast and her falling behind. And she's not the only one. So I'm trying to keep a good pace._

_Don't forget to review! Thanks again!_

_~KateMarie999_

**Chapter Five: The Announcement**

THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!

Hiccup pulled the covers over his aching head but the pounding wouldn't stop. A few seconds later, he realized he was being tormented by his own heartbeat. The sound of a bird chirping outside made him wince. He groaned but found that even the noise he made hurt his ears.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" shouted a voice nearby.

"Astrid…" he whispered, trying to soothe this aching head. "Stop shouting."

"I'm not shouting." Astrid bellowed. "You're just hung over."

Hiccup moved the covers off his head and looked up at his wife. She was carrying a skin of water and looking very amused about something.

And then he remembered.

"Ohh _gods_!" he moaned.

"Ahh, it's coming back to you now? What do you remember?"

Hiccup thought hard about the previous night. "Everything was spinning. Pretty sure I threw up at one point but I barely remember anything. Oh wait… there was a yak…"

Astrid burst into peals of laughter. Hiccup winced again and threw the covers up to cover his ears.

"The yak was your father." Astrid explained. "He helped me get you back here."

"Oh gods, I didn't say that out loud, did I?" he asked, his eyes widening in horror.

"Yes you did, as a matter of fact." she replied. "Don't worry; he thought it was funny."

"I'm so sorry; that must have been terrible." Hiccup moaned.

"It gets worse. I took you home to give you a bath and you tried to seduce me." Astrid grinned in glee at the horrified expression on her husband's face.

"That would explain why I'm wearing nothing but a cloth." he said slowly. "Please tell me I passed out at some point."

"You did as soon as I got you up to bed. No harm done. Thanks for doing that for me." Astrid kissed him on the forehead and handed him the skin of water, which he drank in one gulp.

"Anything for you." He said, wiping his mouth with his hand. "But please don't make that necessary again."

Astrid chuckled. "I won't. I promise. In fact, I've changed my mind. I think the village should know about the baby. I don't want to see something like that happen again. Plus, you almost announced it to everyone. Good thing you waited until we got outside."

Hiccup took a deep breath. "Thank you, Astrid. But right now, all I want to do is sleep off this hangover."

She smiled. "I think I'll join you."

She shut the windows, leaving the room very dim, and climbed into bed next to him. His body was warm and soft. She dearly wanted to put her arm around him but her bandaged arm was still useless. Instead, she planted a kiss on his shoulder and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

The newlyweds awoke late in the afternoon. Hiccup's head felt much better. He gently got out of bed so he wouldn't wake his sleeping wife.

He stood up for a moment and realized that he had no idea what he wanted to do. If he was going to tell the residents of Berk about the baby, he wanted Astrid to be there as well. Perhaps he could tell someone only _he_ knew well.

He smiled slightly as he left his bedroom and quietly tiptoed down the stairs. It didn't take him long to walk over to Gobber's workshop, where the Viking was sharpening a rather large sword. He looked up as Hiccup walked in through his front door, his face splitting into a large grin.

"Ahh Hiccup! You're looking much better than you were last night!" he exclaimed, slapping the young man on the back so hard he nearly fell over.

"Yes well… that was an interesting night for us all, I think." Hiccup said, averting his gaze.

"It's my fault. Shoulda figured you'd be a bit of a lightweight. Shouldn't have made you drink so much. Astrid though, she's got a high tolerance!" Gobber placed the sword in a pile with several other swords.

"About that… I'm not a lightweight. Well, I probably am but I'm not _that_ much of one." Hiccup explained. He looked up into the older man's eyes. "Astrid's going to have a baby."

Gobber didn't reply for a few seconds. In fact, he seemed momentarily stunned. Hiccup watched, waiting for him to move and feeling increasingly awkward.

"Well… that was fast." Gobber said at last. "Wish I'd have known that last night."

"Yeah we weren't going to tell anyone and then last night happened." Hiccup scratched the back of his head. "We want to make sure that doesn't happen again. Ever."

"Yes, you were quite entertaining." Gobber chuckled. "So… think you're ready for fatherhood?"

"Me? No… I mean not yet. I'm kind of hoping I will soon because I can't really go back now. The process is already started." Hiccup shrugged.

"Your father said the same thing." Gobber assured him. "And a couple'a days after you were born, he came back and told me he was wrong. He had no idea what to do. 'Course he might have said that because of the sleep derivation. Didn't sleep in weeks after you were born!"

"Oh… I see…" Hiccup said, trying to mask the horrified feeling creeping up on him. "I cried a lot?"

"Doesn't even begin to describe those first few months. I made the mistake of offering to take you for one night so your parents could sleep. We were _both _crying by the end of it." Gobber said rather nonchalantly. "I guess I'll get working on making some diapers. Got any idea when the baby's going to be born?"

Hiccup shook his head. "I have no idea. I'm not really worrying about that right now. I just want to make Astrid happy…"

"Ach, good luck with that! Stoick was frightened of Valhallarama for months."

Hiccup put up a hand. "Well, as _edifying_ as this conversation has been, I really should get back to my wife." he said, hoping he didn't have a panic attack on the way back.

"Well congratulations!" Gobber said cheerfully.

"Yeah… thanks."

As he walked back to his house, Hiccup mulled over this new information. Perhaps it would be wise to get as much sleep as possible in the next few months. Just in case…

* * *

Astrid was awake when Hiccup returned to the house. He internally kicked himself for leaving her alone because she was frying a fish over the fire, probably out of spite more than anything else. The worst thing was, it looked and smelled delicious, unlike his horrible creation two days previously. She narrowed her eyes as she grinned at him, challenging him to complain. He wasn't going to take the bait.

"That looks great." he said, smiling back at her.

"Oh I know what you're thinking." Astrid shook her head. "You're not always going to be here to take care of me, you know."

"I know. I guess I just don't want to think about even spending one moment away from you." He walked up behind her and put his arms around her waist, placing a hand on her stomach.

"It's going to be a while before you can feel him." Astrid said as she pulled the perfectly cooked fish out of the fire.

"I know. I just want to be close to her." Hiccup whispered. "She's going to look just like you."

"_He's_ going to look just like me." Astrid corrected. "It's a boy. I can tell."

Hiccup took a deep breath. "Nope. It's a girl."

"It's definitely a boy. I'm his mother. I can feel it." Astrid said through a mouthful of fish.

"Well I can feel that it's a girl." he gently rubbed her stomach. "And she'd better not give you too much trouble."

"Don't worry, he won't. I won't let him." She fed her husband a bite of fish rather skillfully with her left hand.

"I guess we'll have to wait and see." Hiccup said, chewing on the fish thoughtfully. "But I still think it's a girl"

"And I still think it's a boy." Astrid shook her head. "We can't agree on anything, can we?"

"We're going to have to figure out how to argue in secret once our child is old enough to understand us." He chuckled. "She's never going to be bored, that's for sure."

"No he won't." Astrid said, finally turning around to face her husband. "Now, while we don't have a baby to take care of, I think we're going to have to make up for any lost time in the next few months."

"Oh really?" Hiccup whispered, his heart rate quickening.

Astrid gently kissed him, placing her hands in his rather messy hair. He grabbed her waist and pulled her closer. He thought it was probably his imagination but her stomach did feel a little less flat. But to say something like that would ruin the moment so he remained silent. He closed his eyes, taking in the smell of her hair and the softness of her lips. He never wanted this moment to end. There was a lot to plan but right now, for a few hours, it was just him and Astrid and their baby no one else. Not even the dragons. Their love for each other had made this wonderful little life and he couldn't stop himself from pulling her even closer, not caring that he was probably squishing her. She couldn't be close enough. He lowered his head and planted kisses on her cheek and then her neck. She took a few steps back, weak at the knees, and sat down on the couch behind them. He continued to kiss her neck, keeping his arms firmly around her. And then he gently pulled up her shirt to reveal her stomach and planted a kiss just under her navel. She kissed the top of his head and he felt as though waves of heat were radiating down his body, making his insides melt completely. He didn't know he could love anyone so much. And now he couldn't imagine _not_ loving his wife and his child as much as he loved them in that moment.

* * *

The couple had told Stoick to announce to the village that the baby was on the way in two days. They wanted to tell their closest friends first and hope that the word didn't spread before then. After a very wonderful night, they awoke and immediately called their friends together in the arena. The twins seemed to have completely forgotten that Astrid was pregnant, which was probably best considering they weren't exactly good at keeping secrets.

"Okay, well, for the next few months, possibly years, we're not going to be able to meet on a daily basis." Hiccup began, hoping to say everything before Snotlout remembered to glue his lips to Ruffnut's.

"Is that all you call us here to tell us?" Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Who cares?"

"We're not meeting because…" Astrid began. She looked at her husband, who nodded. "We're going to have a baby."

Dead silence. The entire group, even the twins, stared at the couple, wide eyed.

"Oh that's _wonderful_!" Fishlegs squealed.

His face reddened as everyone turned to look at him.

"I mean… congratulations." He mumbled, not making eye contact with anyone.

"But you're still not fat!" Tuffnut shouted, earning himself a punch in the face from Ruffnut.

"That was… really fast." Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Did you get started a little early?"

Hiccup's face went bright red. "That's none of your business!" he snapped as Astrid walked forward and punched Snotlout in the stomach, causing the burly Viking to fall to his knees and gasp for breath.

"What matters is Hiccup and I have to plan and get everything ready." Astrid said, blowing on her slightly sore knuckles. "And he won't let me fly by myself." She added, poking him in the ribs.

"It's a safety precaution!" Hiccup retorted.

"It's _paranoid_!" Astrid rolled her eyes.

"And I really don't care." Snotlout said, finally standing up. "Are we done?"

Hiccup sighed. "Yes, we're done."

Snotlout immediately grabbed Ruffnut and their lips became fused together. Tuffnut looked indignant and Fishlegs looked away with a strange expression on his face. Hiccup took Astrid's hand.

"Well, it's not much of a secret anymore." he whispered to her.

She shook her head. "No but I can't help feeling like this was a mistake."

Hiccup laughed. "Oh come on. Village full of Vikings there to support you… how bad could it be?"


	6. Chapter Six: Secrets

_Special thanks to **EmmerzK **for some of the ideas used in this chapter. You are my muse. I would not have written it if not for you._

_~KateMarie999_

**Chapter Six: Secrets**

Over the next month, Hiccup realized that he was woefully wrong about his assumption that a village full of supportive Vikings was a good idea. At first, it was nice. People were patting him on the back and congratulating him. Old women in particular rather liked to grab Astrid's stomach. She had nearly hit Elder Gothi; thankfully Hiccup had held her back. She was a lot more volatile now that the pregnancy symptoms were kicking in.

Astrid had been quite dismayed when her armored skirt had to be loosened the previous day. She had always prided herself on her slim, muscular build but now that the baby's presence was becoming a bit more obvious, she was irritated every time an article of clothing became tight. She complained that she was getting fat but truthfully, Hiccup couldn't even see the tiny bump unless she lifted up her shirt. Even so, he thought it was cute. He also realized that it was a mistake to voice this opinion.

"Why would you say that to me?" Astrid wailed, lowering her shirt.

"What? I-I didn't say anything…" Hiccup stammered.

"You think I'm ugly, don't you?" she shot back.

"Astrid, don't ridiculous. You look beautiful!"

"I look _huge_!"

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't matter how much bigger you get. I'm always going to think you're beautiful."

Never had Astrid been so emotional. He thought she had been awfully emotional just after their wedding but that had been nothing, _nothing _compared to this. She was always just about ready to explode and he was usually caught picking up the pieces. Just last week, she had very nearly knocked out Snotlout's front teeth for commenting on the weight she had gained. He had been ready to punch Snotlout's lights out himself but his wife had beaten him to it. Thank goodness. He would probably have lost a few teeth if _he_ had hit the bigger Viking.

Probably the most distressing thing about Astrid's pregnancy (other than her mood swings) was the fact that she never wanted to touch him anymore. She was so tired all of the time, she didn't even want to go on her morning rides on Stormfly anymore and after a few days of enduring his and Toothless' evening rides, she finally consented to let him ride his dragon by himself. But concern for her made him enjoy those rides quite a bit less and his Night Fury could tell. So for a while there was no dragon riding and the dragons seemed more depressed than ever. Then the previous week, Gustav's dragon had become injured and Hiccup decided to lend him Toothless and Stormfly with strict instructions to take them flying morning and evening (in exchange for a little bit of pocket money). The dragons seemed to be happier and the boy took very good care of them but they still missed their time with their own riders. But this didn't solve all of their problems as Astrid didn't want to even touch her husband anymore. Hiccup was beginning to feel neglected but he knew he had to suffer through it for her sake.

They suspected that their child had been conceived on their wedding night so Astrid was about three months pregnant when an odd invitation came their way. Stoick politely knocked on their front door at dusk.

"Hi, dad." Hiccup said, slightly surprised at this unannounced visitor.

"There's something going on at the Great Hall tonight. I want you and Astrid there in half an hour, all right?" Stoick asked, looking slightly uncomfortable for some reason.

Hiccup raised an eyebrow. "Was that an order?"

"It was a strong suggestion." Stoick replied.

And with that, the older man stomped off. Hiccup turned around to look at his wife.

"Well that was strange." he said, sitting down next to her.

"Look, Hiccup, I don't want to go anywhere…"

Hiccup shook his head. "Neither do I but we should. We're going to have to do a lot of things we don't want to do when we're running everything."

"Don't remind me." Astrid said, resting her head on his lap. "We've got half an hour and it's a five minute walk. Wake me up in twenty minutes."'

Hiccup gently stroked her soft hair as she fell asleep almost instantly. He wondered just how much energy this baby was taking from her and hoped that she would be back to her old self sometime soon.

Thirty minutes later, Hiccup and Astrid arrived at the large double doors of the Great Hall. It was eerily silent.

"Maybe you misheard." Astrid whispered.

He shook his head. "Pretty sure I didn't."

He opened the door and the couple was suddenly bathed in light.

"SURPRISE!" shouted hundreds of voices all around them.

Hiccup and Astrid stood stock still, mouths agape and struck speechless, as what looked like the entire village had come to congratulate them on the baby. People of all ages crowded around them, shaking their hands and putting their hands all over Astrid's stomach. Astrid indignantly began to slap hands away as people grew closer. Gobber handed Hiccup a tankard of the wine but he shook his head and thrust it into Snotlout's hands. He was never going to drink again.

"Congratulations!" came a familiar voice to their right. But no, it couldn't be…

"Heather!" Astrid exclaimed gleefully, hugging her friend. "What are you doing here?"

Heather smiled and grasped Astrid's hands. "I came in this morning and then I heard about the baby. I was so surprised!"

"No one was more surprised than we were." Hiccup piped up, putting his arm around his wife.

"Oh I bet! Think you're ready for parenthood?" Heather asked.

"Definitely. I couldn't be more excited." he nodded and squeezed Astrid's shoulder.

Astrid gave him a small smile and extricated herself from his grip. "Come on, Hiccup, there's plenty of time for all that later. I think we're going to be here for a while."

Hiccup couldn't help but notice that Astrid's smile looked less than genuine but he shook off his uncertainty. He had to greet everyone who was crowding around him to congratulate him. He was ecstatic. Now that he was used to the idea, he beamed with pride every time someone mentioned his unborn child. He couldn't be happier.

Stoick finally stood up on the largest table and silenced the crowd.

"I know we're all very excited about this." he said, smiling widely. "But it's about time we gave our happy couple some space. Hiccup, Astrid, come on up."

Hiccup was beginning to feel a little uneasy as he strode forward and stood on the table next to his father. Astrid stood up next to him, awkwardly fidgeting with her shirt.

"Hiccup, I didn't think I could possibly be prouder of you the day you married Astrid. But now that I'm about to become a grandfather, I realize that I was wrong. This baby is going to make the village a much better place. I'm proud of you both." Stoick said in a lower voice that still carried to the far sides of the room. "Bring out the feast! Let's celebrate!"

Hiccup reddened slightly at the praise from his father. He took Astrid's hand as the two of them sat down in the middle seats, in plain view of the entire village. He thought Astrid's smile seemed awfully fixed but she was probably tired. He had to admit that he wasn't as enthusiastic about the attention after being bombarded with it but he was glad she was handling it well.

There was more than a feast. Gobber's new wine was such a hit, almost every man and a good number of women on Berk were slightly tipsy by the end of the night. Fortunately, no one was as drunk as Hiccup had been the previous month. They had all learned how potent it could be from him and didn't want a repeat of that incident.

Several people started giving them gifts. Many women made socks for the baby. Gobber gave them diapers. Many of the men gave them objects that were far too dangerous for a newborn or even a toddler. But the most interesting gifts were Fishlegs' and Stoick's.

"It took me two weeks but I made this for your baby." Fishlegs said, sheepishly handing over a beautifully knitted light blue outfit he had made.

It would definitely keep the baby warm all over with only two holes: one for the head and one to make it easier to change the baby's diapers. Hiccup and Astrid exchanged a look, both wondering when (and, more importantly, _how_) Fishlegs had become so good at knitting but decided not to ask.

"Thanks, Fishlegs." Hiccup said cheerfully, truly thankful for the gift.

Fishlegs beamed at them. A few minutes later, Stoick produced an old looking crib with a small mobile with hanging stars and one relatively new looking carved Night Fury. Hiccup was momentarily speechless.

"Your mother and I made that for you before you were born." Stoick explained, placing a hand on his son's shoulder. "Gobber and I made the Night Fury. We thought your baby should always have a dragon, even a little one."

Much to his embarrassment, Hiccup's eyes filled with tears. He hastily wiped them away as his father embraced him and then Astrid. He had no idea his father had kept this crib for all these years but he was so touched, he couldn't say a word. Astrid's mother, Lotus, stepped up and produced two outfits, one in dark blue and one in dark green.

"I thought these would work whether it's a boy or a girl." she said, kissing her daughter on the cheek. "But I made this as well, just in case it's a girl."

She pulled a knitted version of Astrid's armored skirt out of her pocket. Astrid gasped and gleefully took it, turning it over in her hands and taking in the detailed and accurate design.

"Mom, it's perfect. If it's a girl, she's going to wear this all the time." she gushed, throwing her arms around her mother.

"I'm so happy for you, Astrid." Lotus replied, hugging her daughter tightly.

Hiccup was a few feet away, watching them with a smile on his face. Suddenly, he was doused in freezing cold water.

"GAH!" he shouted, trying to jump away.

It was too late. He was soaked to the skin and the villagers were howling with laughter. Then he remembered.

The Hooligans had an old tradition in which every time a woman became pregnant, her husband's male friends would pour freezing cold water on his head. There was some sort of symbolism but it had been lost in the hundreds of years it had been practiced. Hiccup mentally kicked himself for forgetting about this particular tradition. He should have been more careful.

He turned around and, sure enough, Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs were standing just above him, holding a huge, empty barrel. He was vaguely reminded of the day he proposed to Astrid. One of the many things that had gone horribly wrong was that the twins had showed up at the most inopportune moment and poured water on his and Astrid's heads. Tuffnut seemed particularly gleeful to repeat this particular prank. Hiccup shivered but his face split into a mischievous grin.

"Thanks guys. You all deserve a big hug for keeping up that tradition!" he shouted, racing up the steps and throwing his arms around Snotlout.

He shook his head and cold water splashed onto Tuffnut and Fishlegs. They tried to dodge it but were still covered in freezing droplets anyway. Snotlout pushed Hiccup away, looking disgusted, and Hiccup immediately chased down Tuffnut and Fishlegs for a group hug. He could hear his father's booming laugh over the laughter of the villagers. Lotus gave him a blanket and led him to the fire to warm up while Snotlout, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs followed, wanting to warm themselves up as well.

What Hiccup didn't notice was that Astrid had quietly slipped out during the ruckus. Heather, however, did notice this and followed her. She found the blonde Viking a few feet into the woods and was surprised to hear muffled sobs.

"Astrid… are you okay?" she called, not sure if she should intervene.

Astrid looked up and immediately started to brush away her tears. "I'm sorry. It's nothing. Go back to the party."

"I don't think so." said Heather, sitting down next to her friend. "What's going on?"

"I can't tell you." Astrid muttered. "I can't tell anyone."

Heather stared at the young woman. Her concern was growing as she saw several new tears slide out from under her eyelids. She put her arm around Astrid and gently stroked her shoulder.

"You can tell me anything." Heather whispered. "I promise, I won't tell anyone. Not even Hiccup, if you don't want me to."

"No… I can't… you'll think I'm a horrible person." Astrid wept, burying her face in Heather's shoulder.

"You're obviously forgetting who you're talking to." Heather squeezed Astrid's shoulder. "I'm not exactly the most innocent person in the world, remember?" She thought she heard Astrid chuckle weakly. "Just tell me what's going on."

There was a pause. They could hear the celebration ensuing inside but it was muffled. Astrid hoped that Hiccup wouldn't notice she was missing. And then, before she could stop herself, she said the very thing she had been thinking but had never been able to verbalize.

"I don't want this baby."

Heather's mouth dropped open but no sound came out. Astrid trembled but still Heather kept an arm around her.

"What?" she asked stupidly, hoping she hadn't heard Astrid correctly.

"I d-don't w-want this baby." Astrid repeated shakily, sobbing even harder now.

"Astrid…"

"I know w-what you're g-going to say!" Astrid suddenly shouted in a shrill voice. "I'm a t-terrible person and I should be ashamed of m-myself!"

"I wasn't going to say that." Heather said softly. "Why don't you want this baby?"

"It's r-ruining everything." Astrid wailed. "My b-body, my marriage… I didn't want k-kids until Hiccup and I had been m-married for a few years but before I w-was used to everything, this baby happened and I… I j-just don't want it."

"Astrid, you're going to be a great mom…"

"No I'm n-not! Hiccup and I aren't r-ready for this and I'm so s-scared this baby is going to m-mess up our marriage!" Astrid sniffed rather loudly.

Heather held her tighter. "Why can't you tell Hiccup?"

"Did you s-see him? He's so h-happy. He'd hate m-me if he knew." Astrid replied, trying to stem the flow of tears and finding herself unable to do so.

"I don't think he'll be upset if you're honest with him." Heather whispered.

"No!" Astrid snapped. "I'm not t-telling him. And you can't either. You p-promised!"

"Astrid…"

"Please d-don't tell him, Heather! He'll be c-crushed!" Astrid pleaded, staring at Heather unblinkingly.

"I… Astrid, please don't make me keep this from him."

"I'll t-tell him. But not n-now. Please, Heather…"

Heather finally nodded. "Okay I won't say anything. But please tell him soon."

Astrid nodded, finally wiping her tears away. "I just want to be alone for a minute. I'll come back in a few minutes. Just tell Hiccup I wasn't feeling well. It's not a lie; I'm definitely _not_ feeling well. Tell him not to worry; I just need a few minutes."

"Astrid…"

"You promised, Heather."

Heather sighed. "Fine. But only a few minutes."

Astrid nodded. She heard Heather's footsteps retreating. She leaned back against the trunk of a tree and slowly pulled up her shirt to reveal her stomach. Placing a hand on the tiny bump, she sighed.

"It's not your fault." she whispered to the baby. "I know that. But… am I a bad mother? Am I a bad person? I… I don't even love you yet. What's wrong with me?"

She wished her baby could say something,_ anything_, to make her feel better. She took a few deep breaths, steadily stroking her belly.

"Your dad is going to hate me. I kind of hate me." she continued. "Look, little guy, I want you. I do. Just not now."

"Astrid?"

Of _course_ Hiccup would follow her out there. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm right here." she called as she hastily pulled down her shirt.

"Are you okay? Heather says you weren't feeling well." Hiccup said, smiling now that he had found her looking better than he had expected.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry, I just felt a little… nauseous. But I'm fine." Astrid assured him.

She stood up and kissed him on the cheek. Hiccup grinned.

"Do you want to go back to the party? We can go home if you want…"

She shook her head. "No, let's go back. We don't want to deprive the tribe of a chance to make fools of themselves for our sake."

He laughed. "I love you so much, Astrid." he said. He leaned in but suddenly stopped. "You didn't throw up, did you?"

She shook her head. He finished leaning in and gently kissed her. Slowly, he moved his hand down and stroked her belly.

"I can't wait." he whispered, kissing her on the forehead. "I've never been so excited in my life."

"Yeah." Astrid said, averting his gaze but smiling as widely as she could. "Me too."

He placed his arm around her shoulders and they slowly walked back to the Great Hall together. Somehow, lying to her husband made Astrid feel even worse. But there was no way she could tell him how she really felt. He would never understand.


	7. Chapter Seven: Daddy Lessons

_Special thanks to standup comedian __**Bob Smiley**__ because one of his topics inspired this chapter. If you don't know who he is, look him up! He's hilarious!_

_I also write bits of this right after seeing Thor: The Dark World so I doubt the story will be influenced by it but you never know. I loved Loki's one-liners. That was my favorite part of the movie… I have strange tastes, yes._

_Finally, I recently learned that I know the writer __**PleaseSmile**__ in person as well. Her fandoms aren't the same as mine but check out her stuff if you're into whatever it is she writes._

_~KateMarie999_

**Chapter Seven: Daddy Lessons**

At 16 weeks, Astrid's pregnancy was progressing nicely. Her outbursts were beginning to become few and far between. She was a lot less tired and more affectionate. Hiccup was glad for this; he was hoping his wife would actually want to touch him again and, in fact, he hadn't been expecting her to get _this_ affectionate at all. It was almost like the first week after their wedding all over again.

The one drawback was that Astrid's belly had swollen to the point where she could no longer even pretend she wasn't pregnant. The day her armored skirt didn't fit anymore, she burst into tears and locked herself in her room with her husband on the outside.

"Come on, Astrid." Hiccup called, banging on the door. "It's perfectly natural. There's nothing to be ashamed of!"

"I'm the size of a yak!" Astrid wailed, slightly muffled by the door.

"No you're not. You're beautiful." he said gently, hoping she could hear him.

"I'm going to weigh more than Meatlug before this is over." she added, acting as though she hadn't heard a word he'd said.

He took a deep breath. He knew he had to be patient with her but he was beginning to get very frustrated. When he looked at his wife, he saw the miracle of life and it made her even more beautiful in his eyes. Somehow, she didn't seem to feel the same way. He supposed that was what made them different but he dearly wished he could make her see herself the way he saw her.

He slumped up against the door. "All right, stay in there. In fact… stay in there until you feel better, okay?"

He pounded down the stairs and spotted the armored skirt. He grabbed it and inspected it. Now where would she have gotten something like this?

* * *

Two hours later, Astrid was still locked away in their bedroom and Hiccup had decided to visit Gobber. He could probably help Astrid feel better.

"Well I can't take care of him." Gobber was saying as Hiccup came near to the shop. "He'll get himself killed here in the workshop. Too many sharp objects."

"Please, Gobber, we haven't had a night of peace in weeks." came a woman's desperate sounding voice.

"You said you'd look after him!" said a man Hiccup only vaguely recognized.

Hiccup finally came close enough to see a couple standing in front of Gobber's workshop. They were firmly gripping a small boy's arms and the boy squirmed uncomfortably.

"Well I've gotten far too busy. Say… how about Hiccup? He's going to be a father; I'm sure he'd love the practice."

Hiccup stopped dead in his tracks. "What?"

"Oh please, Hiccup? Would you mind watching Edgar for a few hours?" asked the woman, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

Hiccup looked down at the tiny little boy struggling against her grip. He looked to be no older than four years old. Surely Hiccup could handle a small child for a few hours. He smiled.

"I'd be happy to." He consented.

For a moment, he feared the woman really would burst into tears. "Oh bless you!" she exclaimed, pushing the little boy toward him.

Hiccup had to grab the boy's upper arm so Edgar wouldn't run away.

"Now you be a good boy, Edgar. Don't you give Mr. Hiccup any trouble, do you understand?" the woman asked, sternly staring at the boy.

Edgar said nothing, shutting his eyes tight so he wouldn't have to look at his mother.

"Answer your mother!" his father prodded.

"Yes!" the little boy said defiantly.

"Just give me a minute to talk to Gobber about something, okay?" Hiccup asked the couple, who consented and grabbed their small son once more.

After talking to Gobber for a few minutes about a new gift for his wife, Hiccup reemerged and took the small child. He wondered why the boy's parents looked so happy to be rid of their son, even for just a few hours.

A split second later, he knew exactly why Edgar's parents would want to be away from their child.

"Edgar!" he called as the boy immediately ran away as fast as he could. "Edgar, come back here!"

But Edgar acted as though he hadn't heard Hiccup as he continued to run toward the shore. Hiccup never thought that a child that small could run so fast. He finally caught the boy just before he dived into the cold water.

"What were you thinking?" he asked as he held the squirming child. "You could have drowned!"

But Edgar was hearing none of it. "I want to go swimming!" he shrieked.

"Well it's not time for swimming, Edgar. Say, how about we play a game!" Hiccup replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

"But I don't want to play a game! I want to go swimming!" Edgar whined and kicked Hiccup in the lower leg.

Unfortunately, Edgar's aim was better than he had expected. He had managed to kick the very mechanism that detached the prosthetic foot from the older Viking's stump. As Hiccup fell sideways, his prosthetic leg suddenly not supporting his weight, Edgar extricated himself from his arms and dived into the water. For one horrible moment, Hiccup feared the worst. But then the boy's head bobbed over the waves.

As it turned out, Edgar _could_ swim. Hiccup supposed that his parents had taught him this skill quite early for exactly this reason. Hiccup, on the other hand, was not much of a swimmer and without his left foot, he had become even worse at it than he had been. But he had no choice and so, stripping off his shirt in one fluid motion, he dived in after the boy. Edgar swam away as fast as he could and it was all Hiccup could do to catch up. Praying to every god he could think of that his unborn child was a girl, he finally caught the boy and began to swim back.

"No!" the boy screamed. "I want to go swimming!"

"Well we're not going swimming right now!" Hiccup shouted back.

The young man howled in pain as the child sunk his teeth into his upper arm but firmly gripped him anyway. Edgar wailed and made every annoying noise he could think of but Hiccup determinedly ignored him. When they finally got back to land, Hiccup had a bit of a dilemma. He couldn't walk without his prosthetic foot but he couldn't let go of the child to put it back on. If they boy ran back into the sea, he couldn't even put the foot on because he didn't want to get it wet. Thankfully, the gods seemed to be listening to his prayers because Heather showed up at that exact moment.

"Heather!" Hiccup called, trying to act as though the squirming child was a perfectly normal thing to be carrying. "Would you mind helping me put my foot back on?"

Heather stared at the two of them for a second. They certainly looked ridiculous. Both were soaking wet. Hiccup was shirtless and his upper arm was bleeding but he seemed to be ignoring the pain. The boy was squirming and screaming bloody murder but Hiccup looked almost nonchalant about the ordeal. He did, however, fix his gaze on Heather and she could tell that his eyes were pleading with her to help.

"All right." she said at last, trying valiantly not to laugh. "Sit down."

Hiccup complied and now used both arms to control the child. Heather bent down, rolled up his pant leg, and reattached the prosthetic. He looked relieved when he finally stood up.

"So… what are you up to?" she asked in an attempt to make conversation.

The boy shrieked again but Hiccup ignored him. "Oh, just practicing fatherhood." He said loudly over Edgar's screams.

"How do you like it so far?" Heather asked, a smile finally emerging on her face.

Hiccup looked down at the child in his arms and sighed. "When this is over, I'm going to go apologize to my father. For everything."

Heather laughed. "I'm sure he'll appreciate it."

"And then I'm going to go home and have a nervous breakdown." Hiccup added.

"Sounds warranted. Well enjoy yourself until then." She grinned at the look of desperation on his face and walked away.

"All right, Edgar." Hiccup said once she had left them alone. "Do you want to get wet? Well let's get wet. Safely." he thought hard about what to do and then remembered another daddy skill he hadn't learned yet. "Let's give Toothless a bath. What do you say? Do you want to bathe a dragon?"

Edgar gave this some thought. "Well… can we ride him after the bath?"

Hiccup sighed. "Maybe if you're good and do exactly what I say."

The boy grimaced but Hiccup could tell that the gears were turning in his little head.

"Okay." he said, finally going limp.

After a few seconds, Hiccup decided that it was safe to allow the boy to walk next to him. He knew his grip on Edgar's shoulder was a little too hard but he wasn't about to risk the child running away again. Edgar seemed to be used to this.

When they reached the dragon, Hiccup told the boy to help him carry large buckets of water outside. Edgar looked a bit put out by this request but he really wanted to bathe the dragon so he complied. Toothless watched them carry out the buckets with confusion and it wasn't until Hiccup began to tie him to several posts that he struggled.

"All right, Edgar, soak him!" Hiccup called.

The little boy threw water at the gigantic black dragon. Toothless roared and struggled against his restraints. Hiccup grinned at the child's enthusiasm, hoping that his own child would love dragons as much as his or her parents. He brought out the soap.

"I think I'll scrub him, Edgar." Hiccup said, gently pushing the boy back. "I'm taller than you and Toothless is a little more familiar with me. But you can help me wash the soap off."

Edgar nodded and took a few steps back. The dragon continued to roar in indignation as Hiccup scrubbed his back and legs. He didn't go near Toothless' face because he had already lost one foot; he didn't want to lose a hand as well. The dragon shook his large, ebony body and water sprayed in all directions, soaking Hiccup and Edgar even farther and covering them with foam. Edgar giggled.

"Looks like we're all getting a bath today." Hiccup said, causing Edgar to giggle even more. "I think he's all cleaned off so come on, let's splash him again so we can let him go."

Astrid was watching this scene unfold from the bedroom window. She watched as her husband and the little boy splashed Toothless once more and then cut the ropes to free him. When the irritated dragon ran away, she watched Hiccup pretend to be a dragon and chase the child around the yard, roaring convincingly. Their laughter echoed off the walls of the room. She looked down at her protruding belly and smiled.

"You've got a really great dad." she said to her baby. "I just wish I could say the same for your mother." She sighed. "I can't tell him. I've tried. But… but he's so happy. Maybe I won't ever tell him."

A tear slipped down her cheek. She felt he belly, wishing she could feel her baby's movements. Maybe then she would feel differently.

"I want to want you, little guy." she whispered.

* * *

Hiccup led the child back to Gobber's workshop at dusk. Edgar's parents were arriving at the same time, looking surprised to find their son walking alongside his babysitter without having to be pushed. Edgar had forgotten about the promised ride which was probably for the best.

"He didn't give you any trouble, did he?" asked Edgar's mother, picking up the now docile child.

"We played dragon attack." the boy said gleefully. "And I won!"

Hiccup smiled. "I'll get you next time." He said to the child. "There was a little trouble at first but he just needed a firm hand and some activities. We had a good time."

"You had a good time? Oh that's wonderful. So you'll watch him again?" the mother asked.

Hiccup nodded. "I'd be happy to before the baby is born. Might not have time after that."

Edgar's father put a hand on his shoulder. "You're going to be a good father, Hiccup." he said quite seriously.

Hiccup beamed with pride as the couple walked away with their child in tow. He then turned back to Gobber's workshop.

"Ahh Hiccup! Finished it just in time." Gobber said, holding up the item Hiccup had requested.

"Thanks." said Hiccup. "Astrid's really going to appreciate this."

* * *

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Heather asked Astrid, giving her a sharp glare.

"I couldn't. Did you see him with that little boy today?"

Heather rolled her eyes. "I did but I'm sure your child won't be that bad."

"Maybe not but I just can't, okay? I'm not going to say a word." Astrid insisted, slamming her cup of water down.

"Suit yourself. But if you wait too long, Hiccup isn't going to be pleased." Heather refused to break her gaze and Astrid was beginning to find it intimidating.

"Maybe I won't ever tell him."

"Yeah, that won't backfire at all." Heather sighed. "Fine, you do what you want. But I think you're making a mistake."

"And I think it's none of your business." Astrid said, avoiding Heather's gaze.

"Astrid!" shouted Hiccup from just behind the front door.

Astrid put her head in her hands. "Great…"

Hiccup burst through the door, waving around an object excitedly. "Hi, Heather." He said to his friend. He turned back to his wife. "It took Gobber all day but… but I wanted you to have this."

He placed another armored skirt into Astrid's arms. This one had a buckle and several holes.

"It's adjustable. So you can always wear it." He said, beaming with pride at this brilliant idea.

"Oh Hiccup…"

"I mean, once you have the baby, you can go back to wearing your old skirt but I know how much it means to you and I really wanted to make sure you still had one." Hiccup continued.

"Hiccup, I…"

Heather turned away from Hiccup and gave Astrid a penetrating gaze.

"I… I love it. Thank you." Astrid said, getting up and putting her arms around her husband.

Hiccup thought he heard Heather make a sort of growling noise but he ignored it. Their friend immediately stood up and, without so much as a goodbye, walked out of the house.

"What's up with her?" he asked Astrid once they broke apart.

"It's nothing. She's just… frustrated with someone." Astrid replied.

Well, she thought, at least that wasn't a lie.


	8. Chapter Eight: A Threatening Reunion

_Special thanks to __**EmmerzK**__ for some feedback and ideas for this chapter. A very special thank you to __**Miss Pookamonga**__ who I have discovered is my secret weapon. You may notice that the descriptions in this chapter are richer than the previous ones. She's the reason why. Thank you, Pooka! This chapter wasn't even going to get finished anytime soon and then you helped so much.  
_

_~KateMarie999_

**Chapter Eight: A Threatening Reunion**

"Hiccup! Hiccup, come over here quick!"

Hiccup nearly tripped over his own legs as he bolted over to his wife, his mind racing with unlikely and steadily more horrible possibilities with every step. Astrid was lying on her back staring at her protruding belly, her left hand rested on top of it and watching him with slight amusement.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked, completely out of breath.

"Nothing's _wrong_, it's just… here…" she grabbed his hand and placed it on her stomach.

"Astrid, what is…" Hiccup began but suddenly stopped.

The belly moved in a strange sort of way. At first, he wondered what was going on and then, with a start, he realized that it wasn't Astrid that was making the movement. For the very first time, he was feeling his unborn child gently brushing against his fingers through his wife's skin. Completely breathless, he placed his other hand on top of her belly and leaned in, hoping to feel it once more. His wish was granted a few seconds later and for a while, he simply sat there, feeling the movements.

"Wow…" he breathed, smiling widely. "She's just like her mother."

"Oh really?" Astrid asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Yep. She likes to hit me." Hiccup winked at her. "Just wait until she's a teenager."

"I think I'll settle for waiting until he's born." Astrid said with a small smile.

Hiccup, feeling slightly unworthy of this moment, gently leaned in and caressed his wife's lips with his own. Astrid's eyes fluttered shut as she enjoyed the warmth of this moment. But it simply wasn't meant to be, for at that moment, she felt her baby give her an almost indignant kick. Hiccup felt it as well and, after kissing his wife once more, slowly lowered his head and kissed her belly.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you, little lady." Hiccup whispered to his child. "I can't wait to meet you."

"Hiccup…" Astrid said, finally sitting up and staring at him.

"Yes?"

Astrid took a deep breath. "I… well…"

"Hiccup!" came a loud voice from outside the house.

They looked at each other with a smirk and rolled their eyes.

"Dad, you can't just keep barging in like this…"

"No time for formalities, son." said Stoick, throwing open the door and completely ruining the moment. "We just spotted some Berserker ships sailing in. They should be here any minute."

"Already? They weren't supposed to get here for hours!" Hiccup groaned. "All right, all right, I'm going."

Hiccup had been dreading the renewal of the contract. He and Dagur had never been close and the Berserker chief had tried to kill him on many occasions. However, a peace treaty between the Hooligans and Berserkers had kept him from doing any real damage. Now it was time for the renewal and he feared Dagur would be a lot less open to signing the parchment than he had been years ago. Especially since he had made it clear he wanted Hiccup dead and his dragon's head hanging on his wall.

Astrid had offered to come along to support her husband. Her right arm was nearly healed so that if Dagur attacked, she could fight him but Hiccup told her repeatedly that it was a bad idea. At 22 weeks of pregnancy, her center of gravity was shifting so her fighting wouldn't be as good as before. Not to mention the danger she would pose to her baby. Astrid simply scowled when reminded that she wasn't allowed to do what she liked best.

* * *

"This is going to be a disaster." Hiccup said, awkwardly clasping his hands behind his back as he watched the Berserker ships approach.

"You're being too hard on yourself, son." said Stoick as he lifted his hand to place it on Hiccup's shoulder, changed his mind, and decided to use it to wave at the guests instead.

Hiccup watched the ships grow steadily closer, dreading the upcoming moments more with every millimeter closer they came. He saw the outline of Dagur the Deranged against horizon as he sailed in on the closest ship, standing erect with his hands on his hips and staring at Hiccup with a murderous glint in his eye. Hiccup was sorely tempted to back away but, as he was to become chief one day, he figured that it would have come across as cowardly.

There was an incredibly awkward silence as Hiccup stared at Dagur and the deranged chief stared back. Hiccup tried his best to give the taller man a small smile but felt as though it had come across as a grimace. Dagur seemed to think so too, for he stepped forward and produced a gigantic sword that would have stretched from Hiccup's hip to an inch above the top of his head. Despite not being very tall, Hiccup thought that it was a formidable weapon and it was making him feel quite queasy. He wondered if he was having sympathy nausea for Astrid. At least that would have been easier to explain away than to say he'd vomited in fear.

"Hiccup…" said Dagur in a sickly sweet voice. "My old friend…"

"Hi… Dagur." Hiccup said, hoping that he wouldn't have to talk too much for fear of suddenly being sick.

Dagur brought the sword dangerously close to Hiccup's face as he passed him. Hiccup finally recoiled, glad for that excuse at least. Dagur gave Stoick a very penetrating gaze, almost as if he was hoping to burn the man's skin with his eyes. Upon realizing that he did not possess this supernatural ability, he averted his gaze and half heartedly waved for his army to follow him.

"It has been brought to my attention that you have a different way of coping with our… dragon problem." Dagur said slowly as though talking to a toddler. "In light of that particular change, I believe the rules of our treaty should be rewritten."

Why was Dagur acting so _formal_? Hiccup had always thought he'd been dropped as a newborn (it gave him a firm resolve to make sure his child didn't suffer any similar injuries) but looking at him now, one might wonder why he was called deranged at all. He might as well have been called Dagur the Diplomatic.

"In light of the changes, yes, it would probably be best if several rules were rewritten." said Stoick, apparently having the same suspicions as his son if one read his facial expression correctly.

"Excellent." Dagur simpered, inspecting his sword with great interest. "It seems we have much to talk about. But I believe a tour is part of the original arrangement."

"A tour, yes. Well you had one the last time you were here…"

"Well it's always nice to keep up with the changes. Hiccup here can lead me around while you go and get everything ready." Dagur suddenly threw an arm around the smaller Viking, crushing his ribs.

Stoick gave his son a sympathetic look before turning back to Dagur. "If that would give you incentive to amend the treaty…"

"Oh yes. _Lots_ of incentive." Dagur said, a wide smile that revealed a row of glimmering and, probably, sharp white teeth crossing over his features.

Hiccup nodded once when his father caught his eye. He had to learn how to deal with the slightly less peaceful visitors to Berk in the future and this would be good practice. If he wasn't impaled by that frightening looking sword first. Dagur roughly led Hiccup away from his army and Stoick and Hiccup felt as though his courage was leaving him with every step he took away from people who didn't want him dead.

"Well you've certainly changed since we last met." Hiccup said, trying his best to smile despite the churning feeling in his stomach.

"Oh that was just me being theatrical. My sister's been giving me lessons. Well now, Hiccup, I thought you'd have gotten rid of your father by now!" Dagur said, the glint of insanity coming back into his eyes.

Hiccup desperately wished Dagur would let him go soon. It was hard to breathe with the huge, muscled arm gripping his shoulders.

"Well… I thought as long as he's planning on retiring soon, I could just let him live until I took over…"

Dagur let out a loud, terrible sounding cackle. "My, my, you are funny, Hiccup! Did I ever tell you how funny you are? Hilarious!"

Hiccup couldn't figure out why Dagur was laughing but it seemed impolite (not to mention dangerous) not to laugh along with him. He managed to get out a breathless sounding chuckle before feeling like all the air had been suctioned out of his lungs. He gasped for breath as Dagur's vice-like grip tightened around his shoulders.

"What are you doing to my husband?" asked a horribly familiar voice.

Dagur and Hiccup turned around to find Astrid wearing a very loose shirt in a futile attempt to hide her pregnancy and a Gronckle-iron sword which she kept on a hilt in her belt.

Dagur was momentarily speechless. Then he burst out laughing, the sound echoing all around them.

"Hiccup? You married Hiccup?" his eyes flitted to the obvious baby belly. "Oh and got _busy_!" he added, reaching out and grabbing her stomach with one hand.

Astrid drew her sword and Dagur withdrew his hand, grinning widely. She opened her mouth but Hiccup was the first to speak.

"You touch her again and I will knock your front teeth out!" he shouted, throwing caution to the wind as he threatened a man almost twice his weight in muscle.

This only made Dagur laugh harder. "Back down, I wasn't going to do anything. At least… not here." The last two words were spoken slowly, in a low and threatening voice.

Hiccup and Astrid exchanged worried looks made a silent promise to each other that they weren't going to leave the island anytime soon.

"I still want that dragon's head on my wall, Hiccup. And I can give you a lot to…"

"You're not taking him." Hiccup interrupted. "No price. He's _mine_ and that's final."

"I _will_ have your Night Fury, Hiccup." Dagur narrowed his eyes as he gave the couple a terrifying smile. "And I suppose that treaty will just have to wait."

"Dagur, you have to…"

"No!" Dagur threw Hiccup at his wife, who caught him before he knocked her over. "I don't _have_ to do anything I don't want to do. And maybe I don't want peace between our tribes. Maybe it's time for a little war."

Hiccup stood in front of Astrid, stretching out his arms in a vain attempt to protect her from the insane Viking in front of them. Dagur walked slowly toward them.

"I tried the whole peace thing and it didn't exactly work out." He said through his teeth. "I'll be back with the strength of ten thousand Berserker soldiers. And your Night Fury won't be able to stand a chance."

"We're not afraid of you." Hiccup said, glaring back at the Berserker chief and trying in vain to make himself seem a little taller.

"It's not us you should be afraid of." Dagur's smile widened and he stomped away from them, leaving them slightly shaken but unharmed.

"What did that mean?" Astrid asked her husband as she watched him walk away. "It's not them we should be afraid of?"

"I don't know. But Dagur has a plan. And whatever it is, it can't be good." Hiccup replied with a deep sigh. "We're going to have to round everyone up to patrol the island."

"I can help…"

"Absolutely not. You've got to stay home and take care of yourself." Hiccup insisted.

"Like Hel I am! If Berk is in danger, I'm going to fight!" Astrid exclaimed, sounding offended.

"You are carrying the next chief, Astrid!" Hiccup shouted. "That makes you one of the most important people here on Berk. And you are going to keep yourself hidden and well rested until that baby is born, do you understand?"

"I don't have to take this…"

She began to walk away but Hiccup grabbed her around the wrist. "Astrid, listen to me. This is important! If anything happened to that baby, we'd…"

"_Fine_!" Astrid bellowed, wrenching her wrist away from Hiccup's grasp. "Keep the baby safe. Got it."

Before Hiccup could say another word, she stomped away, muttering darkly to herself. Hiccup stood there, watching her go. He furrowed his brows and pursed his lips, deep in thought but unable to bring up any conclusions.

"What's gotten into her?" he whispered to himself.

He quickly shook his head. It was obviously something to do with being pregnant. Women were difficult enough to understand on their own but pregnant women were a different story entirely. Hiccup at least hoped he would be able to support her and make her feel like her contribution was important. It was the least he could do.

If only he could do more.

* * *

_Did anyone catch the movie reference? If you did, doesn't Dagur act a LOT like a Viking version of that character? I've thought so for a long time but no one else seems to see it! Can you imagine the crossover? That would be pretty awesome!_


	9. Chapter Nine: The Monstrous Nightmare

_Extra special thanks to __**EmmerzK**__ for writing a big segment of this that made me, finally, able to finish this chapter. Cookies to anyone who can guess which segment she wrote!_

_Also my Syndrome reference must have been obvious. The Incredibles is my favorite Pixar movie so I'm very happy there's a Viking Syndrome in this series!_

_~KateMarie999_

**Chapter Nine: The Monstrous Nightmare**

Dagur was nothing if not completely unpredictable. And when no one had seen him for eight weeks following his refusal to renew the peace treaty, not to mention threaten the future chief, every day he did not act was less comforting. Hiccup found himself jumping at the smallest disturbances and he had become even more protective of Astrid than before.

Astrid herself went out of her way to avoid her husband. It wasn't just the secrets that weighed her down almost as much as her unborn child but Hiccup was becoming incredibly annoying. She was beginning to feel like she wasn't allowed to be by herself anymore. Of course, this thought made her want to be alone as much as possible. When she looked her husband in the eye, she felt a horrible surge of guilt for faking her happiness through this pregnancy, especially now that she had put on so much weight that no amount of loose clothing could possibly hide it. Her heart felt like it was on fire most of the time and she was too tired to carry any weapons except a few daggers.

She dearly wished that, by this time, she would want that little baby growing steadily inside of her body. Instead, with every kick, she winced and felt her heart fall a little more. She did _not_ want this and no amount of forcing herself to think about how wonderful it would be to hold her little baby in her arms would change her mind. It seemed as though she was somehow determined to resent this innocent child, a fact she had told a frustrated Heather a few days previously.

"Once this baby is born, you'll change your mind." Heather had said, leaning against a tree trunk and fixing her eyes on Astrid's belly, which was moving on its own.

"What if I don't?" Astrid placed a hand on her belly and felt every kick, desperately wishing she could be glad for her child's steadily beating heart. "I mean what if I have this baby and… and I just…"

"That's not going to happen." Heather assured her. "After everything you've gone through with this baby, you're going to take one look at him or her and just… I've heard the other women on Berk talk about it. You're going to be happier than you've ever been in your life."

"Yeah right." said Astrid, attempting to get to her feet and wincing in pain. "My ankles may never be the same size again."

"Small price to pay for motherhood, I guess." Heather shrugged.

"Except I don't _want_ to…"

"Yes, yes, I know." Heather frowned in an attempt to change the subject. "So I hear Ruffnut and Snotlout are not doing very well."

Astrid hadn't heard too much but Heather was correct; the once amorous couple seemed to be annoying each other. In fact, it was rare to see them in the same room anymore. Or even the same part of the island. Anyone who happened to catch them together, whether at the Great Hall or in the arena, would be able to tell that there had been some sort of disagreement and neither of them wanted to bring it up. Astrid had watched them with amusement over the last few weeks. Not being allowed to ride Stormfly anymore, it was the only entertainment left.

Over the last few weeks, Hiccup sat in on meetings with his father, figuring that he might as well learn as much as possible before his baby was born and he was too tired to do anything. Astrid had been too tired to sit in on these meeting as well but she had been so _bored_ lately that she decided to tag along. Hiccup thought it was rather awkward to walk in with his incredibly pregnant wife in tow but it was dangerous to tell Astrid not to do something nowadays. She sat down next to him at the head of the table, all eyes turning to look at her instead of her husband or father-in-law. She glared at the Vikings who dared to look her in the eye and was greeted with the sight of many heads abruptly turning away as though they hadn't been staring at her moments before. Deciding it was probably best to get a move on, Stoick began to speak.

"As you all know, we haven't heard anything from the Berserkers in two months. But we also know that they'll have a plan. And when they do, we need to be ready. We need to keep the patrols on the island going at all hours of the night." Stoick said in a booming voice that could be heard on the farthest corners of the room.

"I can help with the patrol." Astrid said, raising her hand slightly.

"Absolutely not." Hiccup grabbed her by the wrist and forced her hand back down. Had it not been in a cast a few days ago, Astrid would easily have been able to overpower his grip. "You're not over-exerting yourself. Not now."

"And so I have to sit around and wait for Dagur to attack? I don't think so!" Astrid snapped, finally wrenching her still tender wrist out of Hiccup's grasp.

"For the good of our baby, you have got to stay back. I meant what I said, if Dagur touches you again, I will knock his front teeth out. And I'm going to make sure he never…"

"I could easily take him without your help." Astrid glared at him.

If they had been paying attention to their surroundings, they would have noticed that Stoick's words were forgotten and all eyes had focused on them, watching them argue with some amount of fascination. Hiccup and Astrid had argued in public plenty of times but it was still an enjoyable spectacle.

"You shouldn't have to. I'm your husband; it's my job to…"

"I can take perfectly good care of myself!"

"You've got this baby to think about…"

"I can take him with or without the…"

"Just stay home and relax, Astrid! We've got this under control!"

This had done it. Astrid's face began to burn, she wouldn't be surprised if it was scarlet, and she felt so angry, she could barely speak. Trembling with fury, she placed her hand on Hiccup's shoulder and pressed down hard on it.

"Ow! Astrid, what are you doing?" Hiccup cried, trying vainly to pry her fingers loose.

"I'm standing up." Astrid replied, trying to use Hiccup as a crutch to get up. Her belly was incredibly heavy, making this a very difficult feat.

"What? Why?"

"I'm going to storm out of here." She grunted, her ankles in horrible pain as her weight was placed on them once more.

"Do you need any…"

"NO! I can do this myself."

"Ow! Astrid, you're hurting me!"

"Oh shut up and keep still!"

Hiccup winced as her fingernails dug into his shoulder. He hadn't realized she was so heavy. He tried to give her a gentle, apologetic look but it came across as a grimace as he was fairly certain her nails broke his skin.

"I don't have sit here and listen to how I have to sit around doing nothing. Thor, I hate this…" Astrid caught herself midsentence. Had she said the word she'd been about to say, the tone of the meeting would have changed dramatically.

She finally was able to support her own weight. She lifted her hand from Hiccup's shoulder and her husband gasped and gently massaged where she had dug into his skin. She was humiliated at how tired this simple act had made her. She was nearly out of breath and all she had done was stand up. As she stormed out of the Great Hall, muttering darkly to herself, all of the Vikings stared at her.

Hiccup placed his head in his hands. "I swear by Odin's plucked eye, she's worse than a Monstrous Nightmare!"

This diverted the other Vikings' attention. Hiccup heard a loud snicker from Snotlout and then blushed furiously as he realized how that had sounded. He covered his face as several other Vikings tittered at the pun.

"If that leaves this table, I am dead." Hiccup said through his hands, which only seemed to make everything worse.

* * *

"Stay home, Astrid. Rest and relax, Astrid. Don't over-exert yourself, Astrid. I swear I am going to smack some sense into that son of a…"

She stepped on a stick, which snapped in half with a surprisingly loud noise.

"…until he's got bruises on every inch of his body." she continued to mutter, not paying attention to her surroundings.

She felt disgusting and fat and heavy. Her emotions had been brimming to the surface for weeks and she was determined to stuff them down now. For once, she didn't feel like crying. She felt like lobbing her axe at a tree. Except she didn't have her axe because she was usually too tired to carry it. Though, to be fair, it wouldn't have helped much. Where was she? She didn't recognize this part of the forest, at least not now that it was dark outside. Feeling slightly timid, she began to look around, hoping she would recognize something that could take her home.

"Hello?" she asked no one in particular.

"Hello?" came a very confused voice to her left.

She spun around and was suddenly face-to-face with Fishlegs, who was walking beside Meatlug and carrying something he hastily hid behind his back. The look of false innocence on his face was far too much for Astrid to handle.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a smirk,

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" Fishlegs replied in a very high register. "How are you doing?"

"Why does everyone ask me that?" Astrid snapped so loudly, Fishlegs took a few steps back. "I'm _fine_! I'm fifty pounds heavier, my clothes are tight, and my heart feels like it's on fire all the time but I'm fine!"

Fishlegs took a few steps away from her, keeping his hands behind his back. Astrid raised an eyebrow at him.

"What have you got behind your back?" she asked, smirking at him.

"Nothing!" Fishlegs shouted. "Nothing; I have nothing behind my back, why would I… I mean what…" his shoulders slumped over. "Well if you really want to know…"

Astrid continued to stare at him, making him even more uncomfortable. Slowly, he moved his hands from behind his back. They were clasped around a large bouquet of yellow and white daisies. Astrid gasped in surprise. She didn't know what she had been expecting but it certainly wasn't that.

"Wow, Fishlegs, I'm flattered but…"

Fishlegs looked horrified. "They're not for _you_, I mean you're all married and… with child and… not that you don't deserve flowers but…"

Astrid laughed. "Relax, Fishlegs. I was kidding."

Fishlegs seemed to deflate a bit, his cheeks turning slightly pink with embarrassment. He smiled.

"They're for Ruffnut. I know she and Snotlout aren't doing too well and… well, I mean she's so… you know… and Snotlout doesn't appreciate that. And I wanted her to know that I did. And she's allergic to blossoms so I thought she'd like these… I know it's stupid." he sheepishly stared into the flowers as though he was expecting Ruffnut to pop out of them any second.

"I don't think it's stupid. You've had a crush on her for as long as I can remember." Astrid said, crossing her arms and giving him a rather penetrating stare. "If you don't go for it, I will beat you over the head with a club."

Fishlegs recoiled slightly, unsure if she was kidding or not. "Actually, I mean, I really don't know if I should… what if she doesn't like them?"

Astrid took a deep breath and winced as she felt her baby kick her hard in the ribs. "You know why I married Hiccup?" she asked.

"Why?"

"Because even though he was so scared out of his wits and was afraid to disappoint me and everyone else, he still had the guts to take a chance. At everything. I was no exception." The baby kicked her again and she gently rubbed her belly, hoping he or she would stop. "You can't just shy away because you're scared. Take a chance. The worst she can say is no."

Fishlegs stared at the flowers once more, his eyebrows furrowed in determination. "Okay, I will. Thanks, Astrid."

He took a single flower out of his bouquet and handed it to her. She took it and slowly put it up to her belly. The flower's petals tickled her slightly and she wasn't altogether sure why she was doing this to begin with. Her baby couldn't smell the flower… what was she doing?

Fishlegs seemed to notice the rather wistful expression on her face.

"How are you really feeling?" he asked in a very gentle voice.

Astrid was incredibly irritated at herself for tearing up. ""Umm... I'm… I'm all right. Just... struggling."

Fishlegs took a step forward, reaching out his hand to comfort her and then realizing that he had no idea where to put it. He slowly lowered it to his side.

"Struggling how?"

"Just... with what I want," she sighed softly.

Fishlegs looked at her expression and posture, looking sadly at her stomach and it suddenly hit him. "You're not ready." She looked up in shock and after a short, surprisingly timid pause, she nodded. "And you don't know how to tell Hiccup," he finished quietly, flicking a spider off a flower.

She sighed again resolutely. "Yes..."

Fishlegs was silent for a minute and then he made eye contact. "It doesn't matter how you tell him, Astrid." He softly replied. "You just have to tell him."

"I know, but he's..." she paused. "He's just so excited and everyone knows it. I just don't want him to be... disappointed."

"Will he be more disappointed in the fact that you didn't tell him how you feel," Fishlegs gently countered. "Or with the fact that you are, in a way, lying to him?"

Astrid pursed her lips, properly chastised.

Fishlegs continued. "He loves you, Astrid. He loves you more than anything and I... I respect him for that. I look up to him for everything as my friend, but also my future chief." Astrid looked back up at him in surprise. "You have to tell him the truth. He deserves that much."

Astrid swallowed thickly and slowly exhaled with a nod. "You're right." She agreed. "I have to tell him..."

"Soon," Fishlegs raised his eyebrows. "You're going to give birth soon. You can't wait much longer." Astrid nodded again. "Well..." he looked off toward the direction of the village. "I think I better... better go find Ruff." He took a step toward her and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Good luck, Astrid."

She smiled lightly and wrapped her arms around his shoulders lightly in a small hug. "Thanks 'Legs. Now go get your girl."

Fishlegs nodded with a light blush and hurried off. Astrid did feel properly chastised as she watched him leave. She began to walk back to the village, following Fishlegs from behind so that she didn't get lost again.

As she emerged from the woods, she ran into Hiccup, who apparently had gone looking for her. He took one look at her expression and immediately felt a bit uneasy.

"What's wrong?"

She wanted so badly to say it. To tell him what she just told Fishlegs moments ago. To be open and honest with him again... But she couldn't face the disappointment in those olive green eyes. Not yet.

So instead, she faked a tired smile and nodded, "Yeah.. just tired."

Hiccup gave her a lopsided smile and held out his hand. "Well let's go home then."

And as they walked back to the village hand-in-hand, Astrid couldn't help but feel like she was betraying him little by little.

* * *

The next day, Hiccup called the usual group together in the arena, feeling like he needed to teach them something (or at least find out how much they had remembered and, knowing the twins, it probably wouldn't be much). Astrid insisted on coming with him, despite his attempts to get her to stay home.

"I know it's been a long time since we've met." said Hiccup, standing in front of Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Fishlegs, and Snotlout. "And I wanted to make sure you all remembered everything I've taught you."

"Oh gods, Hiccup, do you have to?" Snotlout shouted, leaning against his dragon and crossing his arms.

"Do I have to what?" Hiccup asked, genuinely confused.

"You never teach us anything new, it's always reviewing stuff we already know? Why do I bother to show up? It's so _boring_!"

Tuffnut nodded. "It really is boring. I'm going home."

"Yeah me too." said Ruffnut, slowly leading their dragon out of the arena.

"Oh come on! It's not boring! I'll… I'll make a game out of it!" Hiccup called after them.

Suddenly, Astrid gasped and clutched her stomach. "Hiccup!" she cried. "Oh gods, Hiccup! It's started!" she began to take rapid breaths.

Never had there been this much chaos in the arena, and this was counting every dragon training and dragon killing exercise that had ever gone on in there. The twins ran into each other in their panic. Fishlegs began hyperventilating. Snotlout fell against his dragon, his feet unable to support him anymore. Hiccup tripped over his feet and fell on his face in his attempt to run to his wife. When he finally got himself up, he slid over to her on his knees and put his hands under her skirt.

"Hiccup! Hiccup, it really hurts!" Astrid screamed, breathing in short gasps.

"It's okay! It's going to be okay!" Hiccup cried, keeping his hands under her skirt. "Fishlegs, you're the smart one! What am I supposed to do?"

"What? Me? No! I mean… I… I… I know about dragons! She's not about to lay an egg!" Fishlegs wailed, covering his eyes. "Breathe! Just breathe!"

Hiccup began to gasp loudly.

"Not you, Hiccup!" Fishlegs shouted. "Umm… I think I read something about… no, that won't… oh gods!"

At that moment, Barf and Belch, who were thoroughly confused by the whole scene unfolding in front of them, shot fire at Tuffnut, who shouted when his hair ignited. He threw himself on the ground and rolled, patting his hair and finally extinguishing it. Ruffnut began to laugh at him but another cry from Astrid quickly silenced her.

"What in Thor's name is going on?" came a booming voice from the entrance.

They all looked up to see Stoick standing there and taking in the abject chaos in front of them. Suddenly, the sight of Astrid breathing heavily, both hands on her belly, and Hiccup underneath her with his hands outstretched clued him in as to the nature of the pandemonium in front of them.

"Odin almighty!" Stoick gasped. "All right, everyone, calm down! We need to get her to a healer!"

"Healer! Right! Come on, Astrid!" Hiccup stood up and grabbed his wife around the shoulders.

Suddenly, Astrid burst out laughing. For a moment, there was silence as her laughter echoed off the walls of the arena. Everyone stared at her, wide eyed and mouths agape.

"Not so boring now, is it?" she guffawed, wiping tears of mirth out of her eyes.

Stoick found his voice first. "You mean… you're not…"

Astrid shook her head. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to get you involved but… oh gods, you should have seen your faces!"

Stoick let out a low, booming laugh. Hiccup fell over, clutching his heart and panting heavily. Astrid had to sit down to keep herself from toppling over with laughter.

Ruffnut saw the humor in the situation and began to chuckle nervously. "You know, that's not how you deliver a baby." she said to Hiccup. All eyes turned to her. She shrugged. "What? I delivered a baby once. It was cool. There was a lot of blood."

This didn't seem to assure Hiccup any more. He slowly sat up and stared at his cackling wife who had tears streaming down her face.

"Don't you _ever _do that again!" he gasped, still clutching his heart.

"I can't breathe!" Astrid guffawed. "I can't… your face… ahhhh I love you, Hiccup!"

And, for the first time, she began to be kind of glad she was having this baby. But she knew the feeling wouldn't last. She looked at her husband, whose eyes were still wide with terror, and felt the familiar pang of guilt.

But she couldn't face that disappointment. Not yet.


	10. Chapter Ten: By Any Other Name

_Time for the ultimate question: Boy or Girl? Leave a review stating your preference and what name I should give him or her! I already have two votes for a boy and two for a girl!I talk names in this chapter and a few of you who added this story to your favorites are in for a treat! _

_And, though it may be spoilers, Hiccup and Astrid are going to have a healthy baby. I can't believe I have to say that but someone told me they wanted them to miscarry and I don't like that. Please don't wish death upon this baby!_

_~KateMarie999_

**Chapter Ten: By Any Other Name**

Astrid couldn't sleep.

For some reason, her baby decided that it was about time to stretch his or her little muscles hours before the sun came up. She awoke in the early hours in the morning with an exceptionally full bladder and the bizarre sensation that could be best described as her baby's decision to beat her insides as hard as he or she could. It wasn't the first morning she had felt this way but this one was, for some reason, particularly frustrating.

If her ankles could make noise, they'd be screaming with pain when Astrid slowly placed her weight on them. They had swollen to nearly twice their normal size in the past few months and each step had become more painful with every pound she put on. She made her way to the outhouse to take care of the bladder situation and then, when she was faced with climbing the stairs again to get to her bedroom, she faltered. She took a few deep breaths. Before she was pregnant, she could have taken the steps three at a time and not have even been winded when she got to the top. Now Hiccup had to help her up most nights. But she wasn't about to shout up the stairs to get her husband. No, she was going to find somewhere else to sleep. Her baby kicked her hard in the ribs. Okay maybe she wouldn't be sleeping for a while.

She turned around and came face to face with Stormfly, who was staring at her with big, sad eyes.

"I'm sorry, girl." she whispered to the dragon, gently stroking her chin. "This baby's changing everything."

The dragon crooned sympathetically. She began to gently nudge her human, begging her to go for a ride.

"I can't." Astrid said sadly, wincing as the baby began to do some sort of wiggle, probably becoming cramped now that he or she had gotten so big.

Stormfly continued to nudge her, her noises growing louder. Then, suddenly, Astrid smiled.

"I can't fly you but we can go riding. Would that be okay?" she whispered.

The Nadder seemed delighted at this prospect and happily lowered herself so that Astrid could clumsily climb onto her back. Astrid's ankles seemed to sigh in relief once her weight was now on the dragon's back instead of them. Stormfly slowly trotted out of the front door and into the world outside. As soon as Astrid took a deep breath, clearing her sinuses and taking in the fresh air, she became very frustrated. If only they could fly. The last time she had flown, they had only gotten twenty feet into the air before Hiccup spotted them and bellowed until he was hoarse about endangering their baby. That had been about 11 weeks ago. She'd barely had a bump then but now it seemed to envelop her whole midsection. Fortunately for her, the rhythmic movements of the dragon seemed to lull the baby to sleep.

"Astrid?"

She hadn't realized how far Stormfly had taken them until she heard the all too familiar voice from just behind her. Stoick the Vast was, for some reason, taking a walk in the dark. They stared at each other for a few seconds, both wondering what the other was doing out at this hour.

"I wasn't flying." Astrid said defensively, her brows furrowed. "Just wanted to get off my feet."

Stoick's eyes flitted to her swollen ankles, which weren't in her usual boots, and nodded. "Understandable. I'm not going to get on your case."

Astrid smiled, feeling slightly relieved that Stoick and Hiccup had such different personalities. Her husband would probably have found some way to make her feel guilty about riding her dragon and then he would likely have forced her to lie down while he nearly killed himself trying to make her something to eat or do some chore that didn't even need to be done.

"Do you mind if I walk with you?" Stoick asked a moment later. "I'm just on my way to Gobber's workshop. Can you keep a secret?"

He never could figure out why she chuckled in response to this question. "Oh I can keep a secret."

"Right… well with everything going on, the academy hasn't been running as much as it was. I saw the last lesson." Stoick let out a bark of laughter. "I still can't keep a straight face at the image of him reaching out and trying to catch the baby. I really should have taught that boy more about the birds and the bees."

Astrid chortled as she remembered that moment. It was something she would never let her husband live down. The laughter did a wonderful job of diffusing the tension.

"I've taken the liberty of putting all of his notes into a new Dragon Book." Stoick said as they reached the door to Gobber's workshop. "After everything I'd put him through as a kid, I thought it was the least I could do. Plus that baby can have a better reference book when he grows up and wants his own dragon."

As Stoick opened the door, Astrid realized how long it had been since she had set foot in Gobber's workshop. Either Stoick or Gobber had completely rearranged everything so that it saved more space. A drawer next to the desk was stuffed with papers and she smiled as Stoick pulled it open.

"Haven't been working on it long." He said as he pulled out handfuls of papers. "Hiccup's been very meticulous. It's going to take ages."

She thought she recognized the scribbles she'd seen him make when he was fifteen years old. The notebook he'd carried when he was first observing Toothless lay at the top of the stack of papers. Goodness, it had been a long time since she had seen that. His handwriting hadn't changed much over the years but his drawing had gotten quite a bit better. His simplistic sketch of Toothless (with the smudged out left tail fin) was nothing compared to the detailed drawings he would make of his dragon now. Then again, it was supposed to be just a simple sketch. She wondered if her now docile baby would inherit that gift.

They were silent for a while as Stoick finally pulled out the binding he had intended to use for the new book. The book was going to be enormous but her father-in-law had only filled out two pages so far.

"I'm trying to finish up the section on the Gronckle. Both Hiccup and Fishlegs took dozens of pages of notes on them so I'm going to be here a while." He looked up at Astrid, who was staring pointedly at the wall behind him. He didn't like talking about feelings but she was already having them so it was probably best to address them. "Something on your mind?"

Astrid's eyes snapped back to him. "Oh… well yes. No. Not really. Just a question."

Turning back to his notes, Stoick gestured to her. "Ask away."

She took a deep breath. Moment of truth. "Do you think Hiccup is ready to be a dad?"

He let out a low, booming laugh that reverberated around the room. She wasn't sure what to make of this but remained silent, waiting for him to finish.

"I'm not laughing at you." He said at last, putting his chin on his left fist as he began to write out a few notes on the book. "It's just… no one is _ready_ to be a parent. It happens. And then you make do with what life throws at you." He looked up at her and was surprised to the look of terror on her face. "No, Astrid, Hiccup is not ready to be a father. He's impetuous, over-protective, emotional, and a tiny bit irresponsible."

Astrid was shocked to hear her father-in-law list out Hiccup's faults so matter-of-factly. Stoick smiled at the sight of her suddenly eyebrows rising far above her eyes.

"But the only way to break him out of those behaviors is to give him someone helpless who completely depends on him for everything. Who looks up to him and imitates him. Being a father is going to change him for the better." he turned back to the book. "He certainly changed me."

There was a long pause as Astrid mulled over this information. And then, just as she felt the baby squirm a little bit, she looked up again.

"Am I ready to be a mother?"

Stoick smiled and looked up at her. "I think you know the answer to that question."

* * *

Astrid managed to return home before sunrise and was even able to get a few hours of sleep on the couch before Hiccup came downstairs in a panic.

"Ast- oh there you are!" he sighed in relief. "I thought something happened."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "I had to get up and then I didn't want to go up the stairs again."

"You should have called for…"

"Absolutely not, I can't have you bailing me out of everything."

They stared at each other for a few more minutes, Astrid narrowing her eyes into what she knew was a very intimidating glare. And then, without having to ask, she knew he had cracked.

Hiccup blinked and swiftly shook his head. "Okay, okay. Are you hungry?"

"I'm _always_ hungry."

With a small smile, Hiccup turned toward his now gurgling dragon. "I'm not forgetting about you, Toothless." He said as he pulled a fish out of a barrel.

Toothless' teeth came out as he caught the fish in midair.

"You know, you're not even toothless and I still can't imagine calling you anything else." Hiccup said affectionately. Suddenly his eyes widened in horror. "Astrid!" he cried, making his wife jump. "We haven't named the baby!"

"Okay." Astrid said, rolling her eyes again. "If it's a boy, we'll name him Hiccup."

He looked rather indignant. "I am not naming my son Hiccup!"

"Oh why not?"

"Because it's a terrible name!"

"It's _your_ name!"

"That's how I know it's terrible!"

Astrid winced as she felt her baby kick her once again. Hiccup gently placed his hands on her belly and felt the baby's movements. He knew his impatience couldn't possibly rival Astrid's, who was beginning to look very uncomfortable, but he wanted to meet his child very badly. The longing was beginning to make him feel a physical ache in his chest. Just a few more weeks and his baby girl would be in his arms. Well technically it could be a boy but… no. It was a girl. He knew it was a girl.

"How about Stoick? We could name him after my father." Hiccup suggested, half hoping Astrid would shoot him down.

Sure enough. "Gods, no. Nothing against your dad but I do not want my son splitting rocks in two with his skull."

Hiccup chuckled. "Me neither. So I guess Gobber is off the table."

She nodded as they both felt the baby kick again. He gently brushed his lips against her belly. His heart was racing. He suspected it had been beating a little faster than usual ever since he had discovered he was a father but with the due date approaching, it was beginning to drum uncomfortably against his chest.

"Sven?" she suggested after a few minutes. "I think that's a nice name."

He considered this for a few seconds. "No. We already know someone named Sven. I don't want to confuse anyone."

Astrid furrowed her brow. "Who died recently?"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow at her. "Well that's lovely. Steal names from the dead. I'm sure he'll love that."

She rolled her eyes. "At least he won't be confused with anyone else. At least not in the land of the living."

He shook his head. "It seems a bit morbid to me, that's all. Besides, as I keep telling you, it's a girl."

"And I keep telling you that you can't possibly know that. I, on the other hand, am around him all the time and I can tell it's a boy." She smiled and shifted positions, hoping that her baby's weight wouldn't be as uncomfortable if she lay down on her side.

Hiccup lowered himself to his knees so that he could look his wife in the eyes. "Well humor me. What if it's a girl? What would we name her?"

"I don't know. How about Amanda?"

Hiccup gave her a long stare. "Is that just a nonsense word? That doesn't sound like a name to me."

She grinned. "I can come up with more nonsense words for you. We could name her Emily."

"Emily…" Hiccup had a bit of trouble saying that odd word out loud. "It does sound feminine. I've got one! Let's name her Lilith."

Astrid laughed. "Gods, that sounds silly. Can you imagine her going out in public with a name like that? Hmm… we could name her Beatrice."

"Beatrice? Maybe we could call her Trissy. She couldn't possibly get made fun of with a name like that. Okay let's see… how about Ashby?" Hiccup began to giggle uncontrollably.

"Astrid and Ashby… sounds like people would stumble over that." Astrid chuckled. "I've got another one. We could name her Kellie."

Hiccup looked thoughtful about that one. "It actually sounds like of nice. But I don't think so. Obviously the best name for her would be Saphira!"

"Sounds like sapphire. We better hope she has my eyes!" Astrid placed her hand on her belly and felt the baby kick. "I don't think she likes that. We could name her Ally."

"I kind of like Ally. Sounds weird but it has a nice ring to it. How about Haley?" he suggested.

"Sounds like hay leaves. And hay doesn't have leaves. Okay, another nonsense name… hmm… Megs?"

Hiccup laughed out loud at this. "Oh Astrid, I love you so much!" he guffawed, kissing her gently on the lips. "But maybe we should focus a little more on a name we'll actually use."

"Well then… Samantha."

"Astrid…"

"And if it's a boy, we could name him Nathan!"

"Can we be serious for a second?" Hiccup asked, still grinning at the silly words they were bouncing back and forth. "What if we have this baby and we don't have a name? That would be pretty embarrassing."

Astrid took a deep breath. "Hiccup, I really don't care what we name this baby."

"Why…"

"Because he's going to be loved. That's what matters."

As Hiccup leaned down to kiss her, he thought he saw her eyes flicker with something unreadable. But then again, maybe it was a trick of the light.


End file.
